Adelaide-based architecture practice Williams Burton Leopardi (WBL) has been crafting timeless spaces for more than 40 years. Led by David Burton and Sophia Leopardi, their shared vision, extraordinary eye for detail, and client-centric approach informs everything WBL does. At the heart of the practice is a commitment not merely to design but to a shared journey that transcends aesthetics to connect and facilitate memory-making. 

Working across multiple typologies, WBL spaces foster connections, designed to enable people to thrive. Whether they’re creating a family home or a multi-residential apartment, every project unfolds through a collaborative, holistic approach that draws from the past and envisions the future, resulting in thoughtful designs that bridge eras and embed meaning into every element of the building. Their work reflects a crafted sensibility, capturing not just beauty but a sense of home, allowing clients to connect with their environments in ways that are both deeply personal and universally resonant.

Practical poetry

A project that personifies this ethos is RM House, a residential retreat set within the iconic landscapes of the Barossa. Here, a tired 1980s homestead is transformed into a sanctuary where architecture, landscape and lives intertwine. Working closely with their clients — an artist and a farmer — WBL crafted a space that is as much a tribute to the rugged beauty of the land as it is to the family’s journey. A testament to the power of place, RM House seamlessly fuses old and new in a way that feels both organic and grounded.

Designed for a family whose children were soon heading off to boarding school, the house becomes a cherished retreat — a familiar and inviting place to return to, where the rhythms of life are set by nature rather than an alarm clock. 

While designing a home that celebrates and cherishes family life, RM House offers something unique and resonant for each member of the family. For the artist, RM House is a sanctuary for inspiration, a canvas of shifting light and shadow. For the farmer, it reflects resilience, echoing the enduring landscapes of the Barossa with its eucalypt groves and fertile soil. It is this attention and attunement to individual needs and sensibilities, distilled into one holistic design that WBL is known for.  

A dialogue between inside and out

Through careful renovation, the original homestead’s form has been peeled back to incorporate pathways that naturally guide movement across levels and dissolve boundaries between inside and out. At the home’s heart, a north-facing gathering area draws family and friends together, merging visually and physically with the surrounding gardens, pool, and thoughtfully designed entry sequence. 

Here, interior elements like timber, stone and brass evoke warmth, inviting the outdoors in and creating a cohesive, earthy palette that grounds the home in place.

Externally, original masonry meets new materials, including crisp concrete, stone and charred timber— each element subtly reinforcing the home’s connection to its environment. At every turn, the design reflects the raw beauty of the Barossa: the soil’s richness, the scars of bushfire, and the quiet resilience of an ancient land. Together, materials and natural landscape create a layered dialogue between permanence and transformation, paying homage to the Barossa’s rich, textured context.

A stage for life

RM House is a retreat, but it’s also a performative stage for life, where moments of meditation and reflection meet the rhythm of everyday family life. The composition of old and new captures the spirit of WBL’s approach — celebrating comfort and adaptability while inspiring moments of connection with a landscape that, like the home itself, is alive and in a constant state of change. 

Australian Design Review’s 30UNDER30 Interior and Product Designers stream is brought to you by major sponsor Neolith, alongside gold partners Interface, Miele and Tongue & Groove. The program is supported by practice partners Arent&Pyke, BVN, Billard Leece Partnership, Cera Stribley, COX Architecture, GroupGSA, Hassell, HDR, Richards Stanisich, Rothelowman, SJB and Williams Burton Leopardi.