Ross Bakker has a reputation for perfectionism. He's spent 30 years building for clients through Bakka Constructions, but this time, no client was there to rein him in. He built this house for his own family and made almost everything by hand.
When a cabinetmaker's workshop closed, Ross bought its container of rare, furniture-grade West African Danta at auction and hand-laminated it into the rafters and stair treads. Architect and furniture maker Adam Markowitz turned the rest into joinery, cladding and lighting, down to a copper-sleeved stair rail.
Markowitz calls it the Handmade House. Its mid-century H plan separates living from sleeping, and centres around a warm courtyard and a cool, native-planted one. The living zone sits upstairs for the northern light and Port Phillip Bay views, directly above a covered alfresco deck with an open fireplace. The main suite looks west to Port Phillip Bay.
Ross hand-tamped the rammed earth too. Between that and the home's orientation, the family has never needed air conditioning it's truly a solar-passive build.
Downstairs, two bedrooms and a second living space lock off with separate entry. Out the back there's a studio office and a private gate to South Beach and the tennis club.
Nobody builds like this for someone else.
