Highlands House
Hills Residence
Victorian Terrace
A Victorian Terrace house with poorly organised rooms over five levels was re-imagined to become a home of reception and containment, comfort and serenity, sanctuary and a deep connection with nature.
Vertical circulation was reworked to direct entry towards an arrival respite, a place to pause, sit and welcome guests. From the street entry the home’s levels are simplified into 2 zones; downstairs to kitchen, dining and lounge areas with access to the rear courtyard and pool; up takes you to the more private quarters, an intimate second lounge come study, and the bedroom levels.
Kitchen and dining connect directly with the rear courtyard via a sundeck overlooking the pool, which flows to a second terrace lounge built on the garage roof.
Natural lime plaster, soft textured granite, and oak boards, and are woven into the inner fabric of the home. Raw steel, and further use of oak are worked and crafted into objects, furnishings, fixtures and fittings. Each space is designed to nourish the soul, with consideration to light, shade, proportion and materiality.
F E I T Handmade Shoes
JGDW employed traditional building methods and raw materials to create an environment that speaks to the core philosophy of FEIT.
Our approach to designing this intimate space was that of restraint and celebration. Thus ensuring the simply crafted items within to hold centre stage.
Birch plywood benches and platforms; sometimes seat, sometimes display, rest on an exposed concrete floor. Unadorned walls are skimmed with a traditional natural lime plaster, a soft muted texture in reference to the raw leather goods inside.
All storage is incorporated within the space of this small store. The rear walls of the upper level house a grid of raw metal pigeon holes, accommodating a variety of boxed and unboxed items.
Lighting is functional and understated. Unobtrusive cylinder lights peek below the ceiling line to direct the focus, whilst a Japanese washi paper lamp by Isamu Noguchi provides a warm lantern glow in the corner.
Courtyard House
House in the Trees
KMYOGA
The client wanted a sanctuary for yoga and meditation, encompassing a small retail component in a generic commercial building between two busy streets. Design challenges included: the entry off a bland commercial lobby, the ubiquitous office lighting, and a courtyard overlooked by offices and apartments.
To focus attention away from the commercial context, the space was lined with a cocoon of aromatic timbers, borrowing from Japanese and Scandinavian spa design – where walls and ceilings are cedar or birch. The cocooning effect begins at the threshold.
The floor is birch plywood. Walls and ceilings are lined with battens of western red cedar, unifying the space and concealing pipelines to air-conditioning, sprinklers and lighting. A tall spine of timber cabinetry with sliding battened doors screens out the office lobby and stores yoga mats, cushions and props. Battening skips over the windows to Oxford Street to diffuse light and screen out the street, while the courtyard has become a sheltered oasis with timber-decked terraces and mature trees.
Coastal Semi
A typical semi layout of dark rooms poorly organised was re-engineered to become a home of arrivals and transitions, comfort and containment, serenity and a sense of nature.
Its terraced front garden of flowering natives steps up to an entry platform that doubles as a sunset deck. Inside, the ‘boot room’ begins the sensory journey – its coir carpet invites ‘shoes off’ to feel floors of timber and concrete further on. A spine of plywood joinery along the party wall baffles sound and stores everyday ‘stuff’. Bay windows in original front bedrooms pop into a side path for little nooks of light. Upstairs in the master suite, ocean views are filtered and framed for privacy.
Landscape is woven into the building, from the first-floor roof garden, to the living room courtyard that funnels light and nature (a coastal tea tree) into the core of the house. A small rear lawn and view of the barn-like garage/studio is framed by a concrete plinth that doubles as both step and seat for the sun-bathed sunken lounge.
Nothing is painted externally – the cedar cladding will silver in the sun, while the wattles, bottlebrush and banksia flourish.
Parsley House
Bronte Apartment
Re-engineering of this top-floor apartment saw all interior walls removed within the existing 68 square-metre envelope. Roof space was lined for the new master bed and bathroom, and a cost-effective palette of plywood, lovingly crafted, used to organise the downstairs space and harmonise with original elements for a light, contemporary home.
For the bedroom and study, two plywood pods were inserted either side of the entry, separated by a central passage leading to the open-plan living area. Lounge, TV and play space are at to side, with kitchen / dining to the other. All kitchen services and storage are concealed in doors at the back of one pod, while TV, toys, books and more are stored in cupboards behind the second pod.
Original pine floorboards were bleached and sliding sash windows were replaced with cedar-framed pivoting panels to open more generously to the light, street and district views. Two white bathrooms were added: one downstairs, one in the attic where a white egg-shaped bathtub tucked into the window looks out to sea.