Photographer of architecture, landscapes, lifestyle, food, travel and art work. Shooting since 1999, Derek Swalwell started working with Melbourne architects and designers. His work has since expanded to include international design firms, advertising agencies and many overseas titles. He enjoys working with great people and ideas.
With a career spanning 20 years, Derek Swalwell is one of Australia’s best-known and most respected architectural photographers. Known for capturing some of the world’s most spectacular architecturally designed buildings, Swalwell is fascinated by architecture and the built environment, both in Australia and abroad.
It follows, then, that he would collaborate with a celebrated Australian architecture firm (and long-standing clients) to renovate and update his own home in Melbourne.
LOCATION: Melbourne, Australia
LEARN MORE: derekswalwell.com
A series of cascading courts between the house and the party wall forms the basis by which this semi-detached house is organized. From the outside one is scarcely able to see these courtyards due to the screening and deep shadows. The courtyards are covered with a glass roof and timber pergola, which makes them pretty much all weather spaces.
When Tom and Meeghan McInerney bought a 1940s house in Lake Wendouree it was, despite its age, anything but a renovator’s delight. Previously owned by two sisters who had lived there for 60 years, the property had been extremely well looked after, …
Masuto is a duplex project in the Melbourne, Australia. The elongated duplex residence is its own contemporary urban oasis; it enjoys an abundance of natural light, has a feeling of openness, is connected to the landscape, is spatially refined and efficient and beautifully textured and sophisticated.
Set on a large semi-rural property, this single storey L-shaped modern house wraps a courtyard terrace and pool. The main wing includes a study facing the front garden, as well as an open plan living area and master bed adjacent to the terrace.
The architectural form of the Main Ridge house is a series of intersecting pavilions which have been oriented to the views and to the east and north solar aspect. Spotted Gum timber ‘boxes’ follow the contours of the site
Set in the coastal bushland of Aireys Inlet, this home weaves along the block between established ironbarks, capitalizing on the bush views and northern aspect, to create a tranquil retreat.
Sorrento House is a coastal holiday house composed of a series of stepped pavilions reflecting the sites undulating topography. The living space, master bedroom and guest bedroom sit under the main roof plane, while a separate pavilion, linked by the deck, incorporates two further bedrooms.
This split level beach house includes three bedrooms and a lounge retreat on the lower level, and a large open plan living area and master bedroom on the upper level. A discrete timber box at the front transforms into an expansive glazed pavilion at the rear of the property.
