Designing for Australian Light

The quality of light in Melbourne is unique — dramatic, shifting, and deeply influential on how spaces feel throughout the day.

Melbourne light is not LA light. It's not Scandinavian light. It shifts dramatically across seasons and even within a single day — from flat and grey to sharp and golden in the space of an hour. We design for this variability. South-facing rooms get warm materials to compensate. North-facing rooms get restraint. Windows are placed not just for views but for the quality of light they admit at specific times of day. The Elm Street House was designed almost entirely around a single northern shaft of afternoon light.

This is the kind of thinking that underpins every FORM project. Not decoration — intention. Not style — response. Each decision is made in conversation with the project's site, brief, and materials. The result is work that feels specific, grounded, and genuinely considered.

We'll continue to share more of our thinking here. If you're interested in how design decisions get made — not just what they look like — this is the right place.