Layered Realignment – The Altair by Allied Office

As an extensive reconfiguration of an existing apartment, The Altair is stripped and realigned to create a better sense of flow and movement. Allied Office layers the existing with select material and textural insertions that guide an improved functionality, while elevating the internal experience and connections to the views beyond.

As is the case with many re-established apartments, the ability to change and alter elements becomes limiting and the focus for any transformation forms around a more layered approach – adding, instead of subtracting. The Altair is one such exercise in restraint; careful applications of inserted elements work with the existing structural placements and added gestures create a more sinuous sense of movement and natural flow. Although the initial engagement only extended to a renovation of the kitchen and bathroom, after consultation and realising the potential of the home as a whole, the brief was expanded. Allied Office focuses on a macro approach that informs the more micro detailing and junctions throughout, adding materiality that creates interest and allows for a textural diversity.

Curved walls were introduced into the hallway and, through the added ceiling height, set the tone for the home as a sinuously connected series of spaces.

The new works are the result of stripping back elements, such as the ceiling to reveal the concrete slab above and to gain additional internal head height. Initially overwhelmed by the amount of plasterboard used throughout, a more elemental base is uncovered by removing such superfluous elements, allowing the intended narrative of the home to start to take shape. A considered approach to the existing stacking of functions throughout the building ensures the interventions avoided switching passive and active areas of the home and alleviating unnecessary noise travelling between levels. With a firm focus on improvement, the existing outward views of Sydney Harbour remained as they were and, instead, a richness was woven amongst the existing.

While the circulation throughout felt unnecessary, adding elements that broke up long distances and created moments of interest were key to the overall approach. Curved walls were introduced into the hallway and, through the added ceiling height, set the tone for the home as a sinuously connected series of spaces. A mostly muted base palette of pale oak flooring and grey sits in contrast to the revealed concrete slab ceiling element. An inserted curation of artwork adds a further softened element, bringing in colour to enliven the spaces, while furniture adds nods of personality throughout. As a hero moment, the kitchen encompasses the soft curves hinted at in the hallway, layering in stone and other muted timber joinery.

A mostly muted base palette of pale oak flooring and grey sits in contrast to the revealed concrete slab ceiling element.

Through a restrained and considered approach, Allied Office’s The Altair crafts an interior experience that captures the character of its owner, adding to the space with distinctive personality.