Architecture: Edition Office
Interior Design: Edition Office
Visualisations: MOGAMMA
Site photography: MOGAMMA
Styling: Edition Office, MOGAMMA, Studio A.mi

—

Full Q&A with Edition Office and MOGAMMA.
The Local Project, Feature Article

—

In an exercise to extend studio expertise, MOGAMMA had the desire to visualise a design in such a way that further pushes the delicate balance between the real and unreal world. It was at this time the interest in discovering lost projects emerged. Over the course of 2022/23, this commitment to showcasing the unseen evolved as a collaboration between MOGAMMA and Edition Office, and resulted in a suite of imagery that shows the incredible potential in the reimagined.

The idea of reviving a lost project carried a level of emotion and surrealism that sparked excitement for the MOGAMMA studio, whereby the images would evoke a dreamlike sense of wonder, alongside an acknowledgement and appreciation for the land. When MOGAMMA proposed this concept to Edition Office they were keen to seize the opportunity, and shared their enthusiasm to translate the ideas & semiotics of an unrealised design into a new experience. Their speculative coastal residence, Nura Rye, was an ideal proposal to resurface and together they were able to revive and transform this lost project into Nulla Vale – a breathtaking house reawakened in the Macedon Ranges that can now be seen in glorious detail across nineteen images.

“In this collaboration we hope to give this home a life, and to allow it to exist in narrative, conversation and in image. And through that encounter of narrative and image, for the house to become real in memory.”
— Kim Bridgland, Director of Edition Office

“One of the most exciting aspects of the reborn project was that the usual constraints that come with visualising developments didn’t apply – we were able to collaborate and exchange ideas more freely. Specifically, how to highlight the house in a new way and visualise particular features saw us working as true collaborators with breathing space to have relaxed back and forth, rather than the natural restrictions that come into play from a deadline driven dynamic. We were able to be somewhat imaginative with where the house could reside, which allowed Edition Office to build on elements of the original design to fit new goals, whilst staying true to its underlying ideas and purpose. The fact we were able to take their ideas and harmonise it with a completely new location was a thrilling and meaningful opportunity.”
— Martin Houra, Director of MOGAMMA

Martin spent considerable time on location recce to hone in on an area within the Macedon Ranges that would be able to fit the breadth of the house whilst still being able to feature the beautiful dry and rugged land of the Dja Dja Wurrung, Taungurung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Peoples. With its majestic snow gums, rolling fields and iconic granite boulders, Nulla Vale soon became the fitting parallel universe where the Nura Rye house could reawaken and find its home.

“Much of the house remains the same, though without the steep topographical change of the dune site, and the tiered canopy of the coastal scrub with its powerfully distinct spatial binary of above canopy and below. While both sites are old, each of them simultaneously occupying deep time and a clearly shifting present, the Nulla Vale site and its granite geology brings a stillness to that age that breathes a different voice to heartbeat rhythms of the coastal breaking waves. The stillness and quietude of this Macedon Ranges asked for a stronger coupling with the ground and of the connection to big skies and far horizons.”
— Kim Bridgland, Director of Edition Office