As a multi-award winning architect and master builder, Giovanni Mangano set his sights on a project close to his heart: his dream home

Who doesn’t love travelling? The wanderlust that so many of us have gives us priceless memories, new experiences to feed our senses, and of course, unique objects and souvenirs for our homes. For award winning architect and builder, Giovanni Mangano, however, travelling is even more than that – it’s the fuel to his fi re that is his work.

Having travelled the world and explored every continent, Giovanni uses his nomadic experiences to ignite his passion, knowledge and inspiration for his architectural and interior designs, and nowhere is this more apparent than in his own home. Welcome to his little piece of paradise in Melbourne.

The Great Escape

When designing a home for a new client, of utmost importance to Giovanni is understanding how they want to feel when inside their new space. “When I design any architecture I put a lot of emphasis on the emotions and the state of mind that people want to experience, then I dedicate all of my energy to make it work in the most functional way,” he explains. So when Giovanni designed his own home, he did so with the intent of creating a feeling of leisure and relaxation – and he’s certainly achieved it. His beautiful home is, in essence, a tropical hideaway. “I created an oasis within the city,” says Giovanni. “When I step through the door I feel like I am on holiday in an exotic place”.

This utopia in Melbourne’s buzzing suburb of Prahran has an eclectic feel and is a mixed bag of cultural styles and design influences. It’s an Arabic accent, however, that cuts through the varied aesthetic and features most heavily in the house, which Giovanni traces back to his childhood summer holidays in the architecturally rich and diverse Sicily.

“Ever since I was a young boy I have been fascinated by the mixing of architectural styles and in particular the Arabic influence,” he says. Wooden sculptures, foreign artworks and lush greenery are en masse throughout the interior and exterior of the house, connected through gorgeous Rajasthan antique arches and rusted metal doors. The result? A contemporary, indoor-outdoor space that has a continuous, fl owing energy and plenty of room to just… exhale.