Project Papers by Eco EcoOutdoor

Project Papers

with Wo Cra

Front Cover: Backdune House

Photographer: Derek Swalwell

Back Cover: Burnley Street

Photographer: Jonathon Griggs

At Eco Outdoor we craft and curate only the best architectural surfaces. We celebrate an imperfection and textural richness that can only be found in nature. And when you work with nature and not against it, the wonder that's brought into spaces and places is truly inspiring.

Backdune House

Location: Sydney, Australia

Architecture: Peter Stutchbury Architecture

Install: Exact Stone

Photography: Derek Swalwell

Backdune House is a story of materiality and connection to land, with its architecture draping elegantly across the landscape of Sydney’s Northern Beaches. The house reaches deeply into the memory of its surroundings, honouring context while looking ever-forward with enduring spirit. Its tent architecture and grand entry doors are the standout features, while the use of stone recalls the environment in which it sits, reflecting the sedimentary rock of the surrounding headland.

Backdune House

A double-height timber ceiling sits on top of board-marked concrete walls, bolstered by a robust paving of stone underfoot. Wyndam limestone is used throughout the house possessing a rich earthy texture and warm grey tones. The delicate movement and variation across the stone, and its hardwearing nature makes Wyndam an ideal choice for spaces that are to be well-lived in.

Wyndam Limestone Flooring

▼ Porphyry Crazy Paving and Baguettes

Outside, Porphyry which is a gorgeously finegrained igneous rock is present in two formats laid side by side—Baguettes and Crazy Paving. Presenting a scope of shades, spanning soft grey to lush burgundy, the aesthetic opportunities and durability of Porphyry makes it a wonderful selection for outdoor entertainment areas.

A feature wall separates right from left living zones overlaid with Baw Baw Dry Stone. Its organic rugged texture lends a breathtaking authenticity to the dividing wall’s character.

Baw Baw Dry Stone Walling

Viking Wood Flooring

“What I love about designing houses are the people. Trying to bring another sensitivity to people's lives, bringing enlightened awareness about things that otherwise might not be nurtured.”

Serving as a stunning foundation for Backdune’s bedrooms is Viking Wood flooring. Heavily distressed by hand, the surface of this aged wood is evocative in its tactility and remains undeniably contemporary owing to the sheer distance each plank spans.

Backdune House

Mandeville Residence

Location: Los Angeles, California

Interior Design: Jamie Bush + Co

Architecture: Walker Workshop

Build: Hill Construction

Photography: Joe Fletcher

Set on a four-acre estate in California, Mandeville Residence is both majestic and rustic with a sense of place, inspired by its natural surroundings and the Californian lifestyle. Its tour de force is its travertine shell, used generously throughout, connecting the vast indoor and outdoor spaces and giving it the air of a soothing sanctuary.

The home features lofty rooms and open-air spaces yet still feels warm and inviting, achieved by using textured natural materials—the ceilings are clad in Danish white oak, the floors use our Scala Travertine, and many of the walls are textured with natural stone.

Scala Travertine Flooring

Outside, 3500 square feet of covered patio space creates endless opportunities for outdoor living. The triumph here is how the Scala flooring merges with the soft landscape and is everywhere and nowhere at once.

Mandeville Residence

Charlotte Park

Location: Sydney, Australia

Architecture: Cadence & Co

Install: Stone Made Stonemasonry

Photography: The Palm Co & Maree Homer

Charlotte Park sits on top of a hill with majestic views over the surrounding countryside to the lights of Sydney beyond. This acreage has been transformed into a timeless family home to be enjoyed now and by generations to come.

The design is contemporary but retains a sense of history and engages with its rural context. This, combined with luxurious finishes, rich textures and robust materials gives the house a sense of foreverness.

The grand fireplace in the Great Room is the main gathering place for the family. The grey neutral tone of our Wamberal stone sits in harmony here even at scale, while our rust coloured Korora stone picks up the warmth of the fireplace.

Stone Sisters

In the garden, our large format crazy pavers are used on the floor together with our freeform stone on the walls. This can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming, but in this project it works, due to the sheer scale of it.

Charlotte Park

Vigneron House

Location: Adelaide Hills, Australia

Interior Design: Enoki

Architecture: Proske Architects

Photography: Jenah Piwanksi

Located on a working vineyard in the Adelaide Hills, Vigneron House expresses strong architectural intent, engaging the external environment and encompassing a wide range of natural materials. The commanding form of the house effectively articulates its overriding character; a solid yet discerning residence, Vigneron House surpasses the common white-box dwelling and confidently pushes the boundaries of design.

Vigneron House

As art collectors, the clients were highly attuned to the aesthetic impact of natural stone, likening it to a work of art. Our Dover Antique limestone flooring with its immersive dark grey tone and delicate veining, grounds the residence in a sense of sophistication. Each piece is distressed by hand and gets better with age. Our Apollo Random Ashlar walling features both internally and externally adding a rougher textural feel to the home.

In materiality, Vigneron House is a vision of contemporary comfort, in which distinguished stone spaces are tempered by softening detail; a striking timber ceiling creates an authentic feeling of warmth and soft furnishings function as a gentle counterpart to harder materials.

Vigneron House

Desert Palisades

Location: Palm Springs, California

Architecture & Interiors: Woods + Dangaran

Photography: Joe Fletcher

Located in the hills above Palm Springs, this home is connected deeply to the desert environment in which it sits. A celebration of horizontal lines, natural materials and strong links between indoor and out, Desert Palisades is a minimalist, contemporary family retreat.

Desert Palisades

The material palette is considered; the exterior is clad in patinated brass panels that will weather beautifully over time, the floor-toceiling windows are made from low-iron glass known for its high transparency, and the floors feature our Scala Travertine, chosen for its natural texture and warmth.

Desert Palisades

This is a project of precision, with every surface lined up and laid with purpose. Our Scala flooring was customised to fit the scheme. It sits confidently alongside the extra-clear glass and spills effortlessly from the living room out to the terrace and pool area.

The interior design takes cues from the desert landscape. Sage green, dusty pinks and sandy browns form a muted palette that references the surrounding terrain. It’s texture on texture on texture. Wool rugs, velvet, leather, teak—all earthy materials that tie the home to its natural setting, with Scala at the very base.

Desert Palisades

Travertine—famously used in the design of the Colosseum—occupies an important place in the history of architecture. The material still garners admiration for its striking appearance and hardwearing qualities and fits seamlessly into the language of modern architecture.

The Getty Center in California is one of the most notable contemporary designs to use the material. It’s a form of limestone found at the mouths of hot springs and limestone caves, where it forms its distinctive fibrous appearance and calming neutral colouration.

Travertine

Scala is our premium Travertine range, with a consistent light cream hue that perfectly complements modern architecture. We offer it simply sawn with no other intervention, embracing its imperfections and highlighting its unique aesthetic palette.

Courtyard Residence

Location: Sorrento, Australia

Architecture & Interiors: Wolveridge Architects

Build: Smith Builders

Photography: Derek Swalwell

Heartily welcomed into Courtyard Residence’s design are influences of coastal serenity that challenge the traditional white beach house aesthetic. Rather, soft sandy tones of timber, textiles, stone and rammed earth enrobe the home, proposing a calming permanency that communes easily with the natural world.

Establishing an apt foundation for the home's earthen inspiration, our La Roche limestone tiles form the interior flooring. The stone stitches seamlessly with the home’s aesthetic and ethos; celebrating the inimitable imperfection and raw richness that arise from natural environmental processes.

La Roche Limestone Flooring

Emanating a subtle caramel hue and wellacquired character, our La Roche tiles duly complement the residence with their lightly distressed appearance and thermal properties. They are shaped and crafted to impart distinct textural character, enriching spaces with organic soul and augmenting this modern design with unexpected softness.

Burnley Street

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Architecture: Tom Eckersley Architects

Photography: Jonathon Griggs

Photography Styling: Lucy Gough

Our newly renovated 1200-square-metre flagship showroom in Melbourne is a multi-use creative space. It’s home to the latest materials, formats, furniture and ideas that we have to offer. The design brief was to evoke the senses, elevate the store experience and craft a space where designers, architects and creatives come together—to meet, eat and create. Architect Tom Eckersley talks us through the process.

Burnley Street

“

For me the main consideration for this project was to showcase the product in the best way possible by maximising natural light, and to create a greater sense of connection between spaces. Future proofing the building by improving its passive thermal performance was also key. The speed of the build and collaboration with the Eco Outdoor team was particularly rewarding–in architecture it’s rare to make design decisions only to return days or even hours later and see it come to life.

With the brand’s longstanding connection to nature and outdoor living, enhancing natural light was paramount. The existing showroom relied heavily on artificial lighting which limited the ability to showcase the natural beauty of the products. To counteract this, we punched in a double height void with a large skylight above the entrance space, creating a welcoming feeling that draws the customer inwards.”

Natural Light

Textural Materials Connection and Flow

“On the ground floor we removed a major dividing wall which established a direct visual connection from the front door through to the main showroom area. We also eliminated most of the first-floor walls, which gives the appearance of mezzanine levels. These areas now house a combination of communal meeting spaces, offices and retail.

The existing saw-tooth roof was retrofitted with two continuous bays of highlight windows that run the full length of the showroom. The windows are equipped with an operable function and let the warm air out during the warm months and keep it in throughout winter. Large fans were also installed to circulate fresh air and contribute to the passive heating and cooling of the space.”

“ This project presented a unique opportunity to play with and explore a range of textural materials, formats and colours in a single space. The in-situ displays are built to scale, highlighting natural tone and colour variations while providing a perfect backdrop for a curated range of outdoor furniture. As time goes by each product will change and develop its own patina–something we are all very excited to see.”

Illuminate Sculpture

Location: Eco Outdoor Melbourne Showroom, Australia

Artist: Mika Utzon Popov

Fabricators: UAP Company

Photography: Jonathon Griggs

Our Melbourne Flagship features an original bronze sculpture by Danish-Australian artist Mika Utzon Popov. Here, Mika shares the inspiration for his work, his collaborative process with Eco Outdoor founder Ben Kerr, and what drew him to work with bronze.

“When I walked in, I felt a strong pull to create a work which would grab people’s attention as they moved from the foyer to the main hall and mark a point of transition. Like the showroom behind it, which is filled with natural materials, I wanted to create something with texture that builds on nature, because that’s how we always build, whether it’s a timber deck or a bronze sculpture, it all starts with nature. With two giant semicircular panels facing each other, their contrasting surfaces create a circular void which absorbs the light from above and illuminates the opposing elements.

One of the reasons I enjoyed this collaboration was the process—Ben and I are both innovators who are constantly working within an industrial process and wondering how we can push the boundaries. We wanted to create an artwork for a place that has a purpose, creating a visceral experience for anyone who spends time here.

With bronze you’re never completely in control of the process or outcome, you have to let it run its course. It's both delicate and weighted and it seemed the best way to create a narrative of holding space and light from the ground up. The limitation of course is that it never stops absorbing its surroundings, changing and ageing. But once you surrender to that, it becomes part of its uniqueness. It has its own fingerprint in time.”

Great White

Location: West Hollywood, Los Angeles

Client: Great White

Welcoming patrons via a rustic path paved with cobblestones, Great White Melrose offers a sumptuous melding of natural materials and textures in an open-concept restaurant. The space celebrates communion with its surrounding environment and elegantly challenges the boundaries of traditional exterior and interior materiality—utilising reclaimed cobblestones throughout.

Contributing to the restaurant’s distinctive character is the uncommon application of our reclaimed cobblestones. Typically an exterior flooring choice, here Mulhall was laid within the restaurant’s interior, uniting spaces and blurring all the lines.

Pink plastered archways and fronds of lush greenery encircle the dining patio. Drawing upon the potency of stone, roughened plaster and recycled timber, the space integrates rugged materiality to achieve an atmosphere of robust warmth and earthy connection.

Mulhall Reclaimed Cobblestones

A Second Life

After a centuries long life on the streets of Europe each stone was removed one-by-one to have its top sliced off before being re-laid.

The Eco Outdoor reclaimed cobblestone range repurposes these salvaged tops, affording

the timeless material renewed life within a contemporary context. With each distinctively aged stone, a piece of history is preserved, along with remnants of the past that chronicle its colourful existence.

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