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OR VIEW ALL PROJECTSOR GO BACK TO SEARCH RESULTSOR VIEW ALLPROJECTS BY ARCHITECT RIC FIALATERRACE HOUSE PROJECTS1997 PROJECTSPROJECTS IN SYDNEYPROJECTS PHOTOGRAPHED BY SIMON KENNY |
Victorian terrace house in a dense 19th century suburb such as Paddington or Darlinghurst. The building's dimensions required its halls and lift lobbies to be kept narrow so that the office and residential spaces could be as wide as possible. To maximise light on the commercial floors, the offices and shops have glass rather than solid walls. Spatial gymnastics were also necessary to make the most of the new two-storey, two-bedroom, two-bathroom residence on the roof. The strategy: to locate main rooms at the front and back to take advantage of windows facing east and west, and to line the secondary, enclosed rooms off narrow halls.
At the front, the living room looks towards the copper domes of the Queen Victoria Building and opens to a terrace lined with Haddonstone pavers. Stairs lead to an open office on a mezzanine platform above. At the back, a spacious dining room and kitchen face west on the lower floor, with the main bedroom and en suite above. Off both halls are bathrooms and lavatories which necessarily lack windows.
Upstairs, a bedroom or office faces a small terrace which adds abundant light and offers a sense of opening to the outdoors. Light is also transmitted to the lower floor through skylights above the staircase and dining room, and glass blocks along one of the halls.
Ric Fiala worked with designer Femke Rensen on the apartment's scheme of colours (pale) and finishes (polished). Floors are brush box boards, Hycraft cut-pile carpet and tiles. Walls are painted glossy white to reflect light; metalwork is aluminium, stainless steel or chrome. These bright finishes are supplemented by cabinetry that is either timber veneered or glossy polyurethane coated.
Says Rensen: "We wanted to keep the look clean and simple - classic rather than opulent - to capture as much light as possible. The apartment is also used as an office, so we didn't want to make it look too domestic."
Fiala has another explanation. "We always intended that the finishes would create a neutral background for the furniture," he says. And that strategy seems to have worked splendidly. This cool cocoon allows vivacious furniture - including Edra's new Italian Pop-style sofas from Space Interior Products. and purple dining chairs from Design Warehouse - to set an exhilarating mood.
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