Casa Piva, B.E. Architecture director Andrew Piva's courtyard house in Melbourne

Casa Piva is the home Andrew Piva, a director of B.E. Architecture, designed for his own family in Malvern East, a quiet suburban corner of Melbourne. The idea is seclusion: from the street you see only a spare, almost austere façade of white brick, and very little of what goes on behind it. The architects describe the house as a 'cocoon' for daily life, inward-looking within a dense urban setting and shaped by the owners' Italian heritage.

Inside, the rooms are arranged around open-air courtyards and shared living spaces that can't be seen from outside. You enter through the large courtyard and a deliberately compressed single arch, which opens onto the ground floor's rooms for cooking, dining, resting and entertaining. Three bedrooms sit upstairs.

The materials do much of the work: brick, timber and travertine, which the architects say feel 'strangely reminiscent' of another time and place. Bespoke joinery runs throughout, and the study, kitchen and primary ensuite bedroom are fully lined in antique oak. Piva describes a more introspective brief than usual, with references from different places and periods folded in subtly, left open to interpretation.

This is a private home, so there's nothing to visit, but it's a lovely read for anyone drawn to courtyard houses and warm, tactile minimalism.

Our summary of a story from Wallpaper*, published 18 October 2026. Read the original

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