Troy Emery + COX Architecture
Site 2
Longing (Camilla)
About the design
As a home for the Boyd Family, Walsh Street House resonates with the echoes of family life. Geoffrey Serle notes in his biography‚ Robin Boyd: A Life, that The Boyd's had always had domestic pets, a dog and a cat towards whom Robin was very affectionate. In particular, Georgie and Sally were the two dachshunds and the cat, Camilla. Reintroducing the loving creatures that co-habited with the Boyd's, the design broadens the emotional setting of the Family home to include the‚ otherness‚ of contemporary mystical creatures.
Camilla is a two-dimensional interpretation of Troy Emery's 2024 sculpture Lupa, an amorphous animal like companion. The excess tendrils of yarn extended and embellished, dripping down out of the plane of the woven surface towards the floor, stretching the silhouette of the animal figure, bringing it into the space.
The tapestry figure sits between the hearth and window, facing the external courtyard and bridging the gap between interior and exterior spaces. The figure's gaze draws the eye towards the external spaces and the bedrooms beyond, linking the public, communal and private aspects of the home.
About the designers
COX Architecture is built around designers that collaborate with stakeholders and communities; it is By the Many, For the Many. The practice undertakes projects of international significance, from celebrated public buildings to intimate venues. With each typology, COX creates space for artists to showcase work of various styles and form. Collaborating with local artist Troy Emery for the 2025 Tapestry Design Prize continues this ethos.
Troy Emery lives and works as an artist in Melbourne. He has exhibited across Australia and internationally since graduating from a Master of Fine Arts at The University of Sydney in 2009. He is represented by Michael Reid Gallery. Emery works primarily with textiles in a sculptural practice to produce figurative forms and imagery. His artwork examines the discourse surrounding our positioning within the natural world. Emery is interested in the boundaries between fine art, museums, natural history, craft, and the domestic space, seeing his works as blurring between each of these thresholds.