Coastal attraction

It is to be expected that interior design will evolve to reflect changing lifestyles. But the changes in recent times are probably greater than at any single period in the past.

Architect Andy Macdonald, who designed the renovation of this Bondi Beach duplex, says interior design needs to recognise increasing client diversity. It also has to keep pace with new materials and provide for the seamless integration of new technologies.

"There has been a dramatic change in the division of public and private lives today," says Macdonald. "Boundaries are becoming more blurred as more people work from home, make use of breakout areas at work and lead increasingly public lives through social networks. All of these factors need to be acknowledged in an interior design."

The refurbishment of this Spanish Mission duplex, owned by Clayton Noble and Andrew Purchas, provided an ideal opportunity to re-adapt an old building to better suit the owners' personalities and contemporary lifestyle. Macdonald says it was essential to create a number of different spaces for rest, work, entertaining and entertainment.

"The programme was quite straightforward: remove some of the walls to create a large living space and extend a balcony out to the view. We also needed to reconfigure the entry and passageway to create an additional bathroom that can be easily demolished at a later date to accommodate the stairwell for an extra storey."

Macdonald says the intent was to maintain the existing features of the Spanish Mission style for the exterior, while completely remodelling the interior in a modern language that reflects the location and lifestyle requirements.

"The owners wanted the interior to have an urban beach look not beach house or urban chic, but somewhere in between. We played with the notion of the weathered nature of coastal environments and the idea of an old wooden box washed up on the beach. We tried to maintain this feeling in the colour palette without being too literal."

Curved walls were introduced to visually soften the entry and circulation space, and all the doors built to full height. Walls in these areas were painted in Resene Oilskin to darken the space and give it the sense of a gentleman's club a look enhanced by mood lighting.

Removing walls created a single large 60m² living area, which replaces a living room, dining room, kitchen, sunroom and stairwell. The architect added a 5m-long credenza to house all the entertainment equipment.

"The credenza is clad in rusty steel, which has been sealed. This picks up on the weathering aspect of the coastal location," says Macdonald. "The colour palette was also inspired by the location and specifically chosen to respond to the intense glare in the west-facing living area in the late afternoon.

"Whites were out of the question for the living room walls, although the ceiling is white to reflect the light from the ocean. Introducing dark colours into this space was felt to be too city and too masculine, so we opted for a pale mossy green Resene Paris Creek."

The joinery, which wraps one end of the living space, is predominantly an engineered warm wood veneer. This is contrasted by dark laminate cabinet doors in the kitchen, and a black steel splashback in a dark reflective finish that bounces light around the space.

Macdonald says materials were also chosen to minimise their impact on the environment. And where possible, sheet materials were set out and cut to minimise wastage.

"The retention of walls in the bedroom and study had a direct impact on the sustainability and budget, without impacting negatively on the overall design."

Other eco-friendly initiatives include many low-energy fluorescent light fittings and the use of passive energy the interior is cooled by cross ventilation rather than air conditioning.

Story by: Trendsideas