This week on our Home Life Series, we’re in Torquay to meet Prue Dimond, founder of Rocc Naturals, and step inside the coastal home she shares with husband Raff and daughters Coco and Molly.
Designed by Studio Kennon, the three-level home was shaped around its natural surrounds, with 180-degree views and 20 metres of floor-to-ceiling glass bringing the landscape deep into the home. Inside, the cool weight of concrete is softened with warm timber, considered furniture and layers of colour and texture, creating a space that feels both elevated and unmistakably lived-in.
From the open-plan kitchen, living and dining space to the hidden wellness retreat, cinema and bar below, every corner has been thoughtfully considered — but never feels too precious. We caught up with Prue to talk architecture, interiors, coastal living and creating a home that feels entirely their own.
Hi Prue, thank you so much for welcoming us into your incredible Torquay home! For those who may not know you, tell us a little about yourself, Raff, Coco and Molly, and the life you’ve built here on the Surf Coast.
Raff and I met in Melbourne, and we've always shared a love of coastal life. Once we started our small family, we decided to give it a go. We already had friends and family on the Surf Coast, which made the transition easier, and we've since met wonderful people through school and kindergarten too.
We love that there’s a bigger friendship story behind the property too. You found the land alongside close friends, who now live behind you, and their experience building basements played a part in what became possible here. Tell us about finding the blocks together and how that shared expertise influenced the house you eventually built.
Yes — our neighbours, like me, also grew up in regional Victoria. The three of us shared a yearning to get back to a quieter town, back to community, closer to nature. So we decided to align the move together. We started scanning realestate.com for properties, looking for two houses. But then this property came up — 180-degree park views, the 'old Torquay' address, the large block — we knew immediately we could build two houses side by side. Our husbands had done a property development project together years before we, the wives, even met them — so building here together made perfect sense.
We briefed our architect, Studio Kennon, on two townhouses, predominantly concrete (leaning into my husband's expertise) and with basements (leaning into our friends' expertise). Studio Kennon came back with a concept far beyond the brief of a typical townhouse — two sculptural family homes that hero and envelop the park. We fell in love with it.
Raff works in construction and concrete became the defining material of the home, with more than 150 truckloads used in the build. Did having that knowledge so close to home make you more ambitious with what you were willing to attempt?
Having that depth of knowledge so close to home definitely gave us the confidence to push further than a typical build. Raff understood the material in a way that let us take real risks with the structure — the sculptural form caused its fair share of headaches on site, but every one of them was worth it for what the house became.
The home unfolds across three levels, with a significant portion built below ground. What did building down unlock for the design, and were there any particularly wild, difficult or memorable moments getting that part of the build out of the ground?
We initially focused on perfecting the floor plan for the ground and first floor, assuming the basement would be a bonus space — at minimum, a gym with some equipment. Similar to my garage I was working out in.. But once we started exploring what was possible down there, the realised the last thing we wanted was for it to feel like a basement. We put a lot of detail into the finishes and design so it felt like a space you'd actually want to live in every day — whether that's working from the office, training in the gym, or having friends over at the bar at night. It needed to feel just as good, as the levels above.
The Razor House in California was an early reference point for the architecture. When you first showed Studio Kennon that reference, what was it that you were really responding to: the concrete, the curves, the relationship to the landscape, or simply the feeling of it?
We briefed Kennon on two four-bedroom townhouses. He presented two options for that brief — and then blew us away with a third: the home we ended up building. Twenty metres of sweeping floor-to-ceiling glass, the concrete curved into something sculptural. Our reference to the Razor House actually came afterwards, more from an interiors perspective. There are obvious similarities in the way the concrete structure engulfs the natural surrounds. I adored their sculptural, brutalist home, but inside, the interiors work hard to ooze personality, to feel warm, and to feel like a family lives there. I loved that some spaces felt loud while others felt tranquil — we tried to imitate that too.
You’ve spoken about needing the interiors to push back against the weight and masculinity of the concrete. Was bringing in colour something you felt confident about from the beginning, or did that palette evolve as the house started to take shape?
We wanted the house to feel warm, playful and family-friendly inside, so colour was always going to be integral to balance the coldness of the concrete. The colours of the pallet definitely developed as we designed. We layered most of it in through soft furnishings — rugs, couches, artwork — in case this didn't end up being our forever home. As it turns out, with our move back to Melbourne for work, and the house going up for sale this month, that's exactly what's happened! Without those soft furnishings, the palette neutralises and the space can be reinterpreted by someone else.
With a sauna, ice bath, cinema, bar and huge open living spaces, there are some wonderfully indulgent elements in the house. What was on the non-negotiable list from day one, and what found its way into the plans as the build evolved?
The non-negotiable was designing the large open-plan living, dining and kitchen space that would hero that uninterrupted park view. As we prepare to sell the house, this is what I'll miss the most — it's incredible to live somewhere you can watch the sunrise, the sunset, and animals playing in the park, all from the one room. The wellness room and bar were always on the list too, but I don't think we ever imagined them feeling as luxurious as they do. It's an absolute treat to work out in there daily, and to entertain friends in the cinema — a little bit of yin and yang energy down in the basement!
