Walan Apartment by Alcorn Middleton Architecture Office
Apartment Brisbane, Qld
The specialized discipline of interior architecture reconciles the broad framework of architecture with the fine-grain finish and function of the interior realm. Architects Joel Alcorn and Chloe Middleton, directors of Brisbane-based Alcorn Middleton Architecture Office (AMAO), have tackled this demanding subset of architecture with a series of alterations and additions made to a whole-of-floor-apartment inside the new Walan residential tower, designed by Bureau Proberts. AMAO’s clever ideas for injecting colour, introducing “delightful obstacles” through joinery and fine-tuning the adaptability of functional spaces demonstrate the power of subtle design shifts and strong signature moves.
The clients extended a rare brief to AMAO: to reconcile a lifetime of suburban living in a 1920s house with the transition to an open-plan, innercity apartment. The juxtaposition of these architectural scenarios prompted the decision to personalize the blank canvas of the apartment. The broad aim was to tailor rooms to the eclectic tastes and ceremonial habits of the client couple, who love the ritual of cooking and entertaining as much as the luxury of solitude. Through a discrete set of seamless additions, AMAO has adapted the spaces of the apartment to dial up the sense of formality and enclosure, resulting in a design that is more akin to the cellular arrangement that the clients had become accustomed to than the contemporary open plan of the new apartment.
The relationship between the kitchen and the dining room was central to the interior refit: A genuine ambition to screen “cooking mistakes and kitchen disasters” from dining guests drove decisions. Surprisingly, the clients were willing to forgo some of the best city views in Brisbane to achieve this spatial division. Determined to balance enclosure and outlook, AMAO devised a sliding rattan screen system as an accessory to the
contemporary kitchen. Positioned in front of the existing kitchen bench, these delicate, semi-opaque screens stack away to preserve the day-to-day view and, when guests arrive, slide across to provide the visual separation required between the kitchen and the dining table.
To complete the enclosure of the kitchen, a new joinery unit in almond-coloured timber veneer extends, with a broad bullnose edge, from the hallway to meet the juncture of the sliding screen. This unit provides additional pantry storage while also creating a screened route to the existing butler’s pantry, located behind the kitchen. The joinery introduces an injection of colour in panels of yellow ‘Tumeric’ and purple ‘Grenache.’ A benchtop in Smeraldo Quartzite delivers a jade-like tone that cools the otherwise honeycoloured warmth of timber, rattan and mosaic.
In living areas, joinery is utilized to fashion an interior of marshmallow softness and plump curvature, a move away from the sharp, folded geometries of the original architecture. Credenzas – in particular the low-slung unit floating between the dining room and the living room – assert the client’s conviviality, with paint and timber finishes in ‘Almond’ and a hue reminiscent of (and named) ‘Himalayan Salt,’ a divine marriage of rich brown and light blush. This sweet and savoury colour combination is woven through multiple spaces and infuses the apartment with a glorious warmth and softness.
Other key joinery pieces are introduced to emphasize a sense of luxury. In the master bedroom, Smeraldo Quartzite returns with its jewel-like finish to create the bench and backdrop to a bespoke makeup counter. Drawers in almond timber veneer stand their ground with a bold footprint inscribed by broad cylindrical feet. There’s a friendliness that comes with these delightfully fat forms, and the scalloped bedhead carries the softness of such gestures deep into slumber.
It came as somewhat of a surprise to me to discover that the room most favoured by the clients is the space that turns its back on the city skyline and instead looks east to take in urban views across Kangaroo Point and beyond to the New Farm Peninsula. The secluded snug of the library and sitting room is a place of refuge. Narrow proportions and signature joinery lend the room to introversion, an antidote to the view-saturated edges on the opposite side of the plan. Here ‘Himalayan Salt’-coloured walls and ceiling recesses in deep purple espouse a sense of homeliness, while timber joinery with characteristic broad bullnose ends bestows a sense of generosity.
The combination of tones, finishes and forms, curated with delicacy and care, bring light to the skill of the interior architect in acting with both restraint and rigour to realize this work. With an inherent sense for striking a balance between colour, lustre and tactility, AMAO has produced a joyful suite of adaptions that successfully bridges the cellular and the open-plan, the extroverted and the introverted, and the luxurious and the meaningful.
For owners embarking on a new stage of life, these warm and engaging spaces offer relief from the luxury of endless skyline and prospect and return focus to the pleasure of introversion and the potential of a house in the sky.
Products
Internal walls: Eveneer crown-cut timber veneer wall panelling in ‘Almond’ from Elton Group
Doors: Rattan and American oak sliding screens by Basele Shopfitting; Häfele sliding screen hardware in Dulux
Duractec ‘Lexicon Quarter’ Lighting: Foscarini Gregg Midi and Piccolo wall lamps and
Moooi NR2 pendant from Space Furniture; Rich Brilliant Willing Monocle sconce from Living Edge; Flos Copycat table lamp
Kitchen: Smeraldo island benchtop and Calacatta benchtop and upstand from Artedomus; Appiani Anthologia mosaic tiles in ‘Tiglio’; Qasair rangehoods; Miele oven and warming drawer; Porter’s Paints 2-pac kitchen divider in ‘Grenache’ and ‘Tumeric’; Eveneer crown-cut timber veneer joinery in ‘Almond’ from Elton Group; dining and sitting room sideboards in Porter’s Paints ‘Himalayan Salt’
Bathroom: Rogerseller Caldera basins; Ceramica Vogue Dekorami Kolonne tiles in shower
Other: Casamance Winona sheer curtains; custom bedhead in Zepel FibreGuard Dynamo A ‘Dolphin’ fabric and Eveneer crown-cut timber veneer in ‘Almond’ from Elton Group; Spiggy brass bedside drawer handles; custom dresser in Smeraldo from Artedomus and Eveneer timber veneer; custom curved rattan drinks cabinet; custom rumpus room bookcase; Edra Grande Soffice sofa, Cipria armchair and Cicladi coffee tables; B&B Italia Tufty-Too sofa, Seven table and Jens chairs;
GTV Allegory desk and Glas Italia Shimmer side tables from Space Furniture; Jardan Joy armchairs