There’s a particular kind of honesty embedded in an architect’s own home. Freed from the negotiations, compromises and competing expectations that often shape residential work, the architect’s house becomes something more personal: a testing ground for ideas, obsessions and instincts.

For DKO founding partner and principal Koos de Keijzer and his wife Clemence Harvey, a passionate gardener with a sharp sense for storytelling and communications, their evolving home in regional Victoria is exactly that: a deeply lived-in expression of shared values, aesthetic conviction and an ongoing dialogue between architecture, climate and landscape.

What emerges from their conversation is not the polished mythology of a “dream home,” but something far more compelling: an architect’s house as a process rather than a finished object. The project has unfolded slowly, in stages, shaped as much by observation and daily ritual as by drawings or masterplans.

Rooms have shifted in response to birdlife, windows reframed around moonlight and gardens allowed to evolve organically alongside the architecture. It is a home designed not only to be looked at, but to be inhabited attentively.

There is also a striking confidence in the way de Keijzer and Harvey describe decision-making. Designing for themselves allowed the pair to operate on what they call the “Love, Love, Love” principle, pursuing ideas with instinctive certainty rather than consensus-building restraint.

Materials, fittings, light and atmosphere are treated not as decorative afterthoughts but as essential ingredients in how the home feels and functions. The result is a project that embodies many of the questions architects continually ask of their work: how to live more simply, more sustainably and more meaningfully within a place.

Set against the harsh granite landscapes of Central Victoria, the house reveals another defining quality of the architect’s own home: it becomes a laboratory for testing ideas in real time. Passive cooling strategies, evolving garden experiments and an embrace of elemental living all feed back into de Keijzer’s broader thinking about practice and sustainability. In this sense, the project is more than a private residence; it is a lived manifesto, shaped equally by architecture, climate, patience and passion.

Clémence Carayol: Koos and Clemence, what changed when you were designing for yourselves instead of a client; did you find yourselves more decisive, or more indulgent?

Clemence Harvey: Yes, more assured. Luckily, our aesthetics align and we had a very clear vision of what we wanted to achieve. So decisive, definitely yes, we could make bold decisions as we only had to please ourselves.

Generally, we work on the Love, Love, Love principle. Which is when you fall in love with a look and feel, you know that this is the right decision. You need to be passionate about your approach, not tepid.

In regard to indulgence, materialism of fittings and lighting are always a priority with the two of us.

Koos de Keijzer: I’m always trying to second guess myself. Luckily Clemence and I are aligned aesthetically so we do achieve a clear vision. I’m preoccupied with sustainability, I don’t think we are indulgent, but we certainly follow the Love, Love, Love principle.

The house and garden feel closely tied together—did one lead the other at any point, or did they grow side by side?

CH: Thank you for asking about the garden! To be frank, the house was always the priority, and we have been staging our renovations, first living and kitchen and then bathroom and master bedroom. The garden is an ongoing passion project, or shall I say obsession?

It will always be a work in progress, as gardens, by their nature, are ever evolving. Plans are always afoot, it is now winter and I am planning summer with the ‘The dry Gardening Handbook,’ so I am learning to plant specifically for the harsh conditions of granite country, Central Victoria. However, I am happy to report that some hard landscaping is now underway. There is just so much you can achieve with a trowel and spade.

KdK: We walk through the garden to get to the house, from the house we look at the garden so it’s an important element of how we live. I’m obsessed about our water situation. Pastoria is a dry arid climate, and we are spending more time researching dry climate plants. We do have a large lap pool in our masterplan which will have a large influence on the garden and house.

Living in a project that’s still evolving can be messy—what have you learned from not trying to resolve everything upfront?

CH: Living in a project IS messy and DOES test your patience during construction. But living in a space, prior to renovation is beneficial, because you observe the qualities and let the beauty of the space unfurl. It could be as simple as the way the daylight travels through the house, or your preferred view lines during the course of a day. These things often cannot be anticipated on a plan.

KdK: Living in the project is essential, we changed the kitchen location so Clemence could see the birds nesting. We love tracking the sun through the house during the day and the moon at night. Living in the house during the renovation made us much closer to the elemental issues.

Were there any ideas you were tempted to include but ultimately pulled back from? What made you stop?

CH: We worked the internal masterplan vigorously, as the house was originally designed as a zig zag, there we lots of odd nooks to ameliorate. It took quite some time to arrive at the simple solutions.

KdK: The project has essentially been one of stripping back elements and just embracing warmth and simplicity. I’m still tempted to build a two-story campanile to complete the Italian theme, this would also be my studio.

Has living here changed how you think about your work at DKO or future projects in a tangible way?

KdK: Pastoria has once more reiterated in my head the concept of simple sustainability. Sleeping with an open window, roof vents to let out the hot air, capturing the sun and embracing the shade. Good design creates luxurious living.

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