CLOSING THE GAP
The team behind this Sydney renovation bridged the chasm between old and new with made-to-order minimalism
The design process, approvals and documentation took four years to complete before the refurbishment of this Sydney home could even begin. What lay ahead was another challenge – 19 months of live-in renovations for the homeowner, Kathryn, her husband and their three children. “The house is on a large block of land and had great Art Deco bones,” says Kathryn. “It was solid double brick with spacious rooms and structurally sound, but needed a makeover to modernise it, and the outdoor entertaining area required extending to optimise the garden. We spend a lot of time outdoors, so we wanted to create great rooms that flowed outside, as well as interconnected family areas [in and out] that could be separated if required.”
A key part of the brief to Graeme Bell of Trace Architects was to create spaces that catered to the family’s love of entertaining and the changing needs of the children. Headlining the list were a new swimming pool, a barbecue area with a pizza oven and fireplace, a hidden outdoor bar, a games room and a wine cellar. “The house was in fair condition,” says Graeme, “but many of the original features were in need of repair, and the previously added extensions provided poor functionality. Although the property is a large L-shaped block, the house had limited connectivity to the rear yard due to an 84-square-metre multi-car garage that connected to a family room wing at the rear of the house. The first thing we did was move the garage to the front of the house, opening up the rear of the site and granting the new extension access to the yard and pool area. Then we designed a rectangular pavilion with a huge kitchen, dining and living area that links to the original house.”
The new living areas have been reconnected to the garden via six large glass sliding doors that disappear into hidden pockets when completely open, revealing a 12-metre wide transition to a covered terrace, lawn area and new swimming pool sitting at the back of the block, to the right. “The old swimming pool [in the middle of the block] was partially covered by the new pavilion extension, but was reused as part water-tank storage and part wine cellar – accessed through an automated glass floor hatch,” says Graeme.
In addition to the beautiful new kitchen, living areas and dining room by Illuka Constructions, the floor plan was reconfigured to accommodate five bedrooms and bathrooms, a powder room, a laundry, a mud room, a home office, a man
cave (aka games room) with pool table near access to the wine cellar, and four extra storage rooms with individual roller doors, which are located outside along the home’s side passage. One of Kathryn’s favourite spaces is the elegant main bedroom, which was relocated and expanded. “We took out a bedroom so we could create a new ensuite and have a lot more storage,” she says.
Stylistically, the pavilion extension has minimalist leanings intended to contrast with the Art Deco part of the house, using a sympathetic blend of materials to ensure there’s little visual disruption between the two. “We wanted to bring the style of the original home into the extension, so we included some of its design features, such as curved walls, P&O-style windows and ribbed glass,” says Kathryn. She and the designers chose a colour palette of white and dark grey for the interiors, softened by light oak-veneer joinery and stained cedar cladding. “We went for a neutral palette as we wanted the pavilion’s big steel structure system to be the star. We used furnishings and art to add colour.
“Our home has been designed for how we live,” she adds. “There are places to relax and spaces to interact together – large, open family zones. That was the main reason for the renovation, and to open up the aperture of the garden so it became the focal point of the living space – we got all that.”
“The boldness of the dark and white is softened by the light oak-veneer joinery” GRAEME BELL, ARCHITECT