# @dwellmagazine on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DXzJM5zESoC
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/64849847-dwellmagazine-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/a4463c5c3e.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-05-01T14:18:26.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Dwell (@dwellmagazine) — https://gondola.cc/dwellmagazine

## Caption

For two former bandmates, $448K AUD was enough to make a modest house sing. You could say Melbourne designer David Noordhoff had already established a rhythm with clients James and Zara McGuffie long before he designed their home. Noordhoff and James had been the drummer and guitarist in a successful indie rock band, Kilns, before Noordhoff went off to architecture school. So, when the couple purchased a small piece of land outside Melbourne, they knew they wanted Noordhoff on their team. “We just had a connection,” recalls James, who first met Noordhoff over 12 years ago. Together, the trio realized that James’s idea for an L-shaped plan might just be perfect for the site—and their budget. To stay within their budget of $450,000 Australian dollars (about $290,000 USD), the couple opted to keep the home quite compact rather than compromise on the quality of its thermal envelope. They were also strategic about where they did spend their money, minimizing the use of floor-to-ceiling glass while prioritizing big moments, like the corner of glass that wraps around a window seat in the living room. By the time the home was completed, Zara and James spent only one week there before a three-month European work trip. But that created a unique opportunity. Noordhoff and his partner, Deb, had just sold their home and, yet to find a new place, wound up living at the residence for three months. A perfect trial run for a young architect. Read more about the journey—and see the full #BudgetBreakdown—at the link in bio.
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Design by dn.archi of Freeman Group Architects
Photos by jjjjade
Story by bjlpdx
Builder vr_builders

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## Tags

budgetbreakdown

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