Darkly Encasing – Iron Chef by Das Studio

Through a culmination of culinary openness and connection and the robustness of steel, Iron Chef becomes an expression of its owners. Das Studio works to reflect the existing character of the area, reinterpreted through a more contemporary lens, while ensuring the personalities of those who reside within are present in the resulting form.

As an unlikely pairing, the owners of Iron Chef have backgrounds in both the hospitality industry and steel fabrication, and, unsurprisingly, both wanted to bring elements of their passions into their newly conceived home. Their approach aims to challenge the more traditional homes in the area and truly fuses personality and place. Located in Millswood, in one of Adelaide’s leafy inner suburbs, the home sits surrounded by an assortment of heritage homes, all with their own embedded sense of grandeur and scale. In proposing a scheme that would sensitively insert itself amongst the existing vernacular, Das Studio combines a reference to the neighbouring silhouettes and a respectful setback from the street to align with the existing forms. Although clearly a modern insertion, through these gestures, the result feels considered.

Their approach aims to challenge the more traditional homes that it is immersed amongst, and truly fuses personality and place.

Built by Belperio Developments with landscape design by Garden Art Design, Iron Chef navigates the protected tree zoning in place on site. The garden itself becomes an important part of the story of the home and acts as a living family member, while also encouraging engagement from within once outside. The greenness of the landscape acts to counter the dark and more imposing nature of the steel, offering a sense of balance across the site. Internally, the kitchen needed to take centre stage, with its owner being a chef. Being both a place to gather and prepare meals, it also needed to have specific functional requirements in place. Connections to other living areas then stem from this central location.

The engagement of Das Studio also asked for the owners to be pushed beyond what they would normally expect and what they had previously lived within. While the exterior darkened steel façade cloaks the form of the house, an element of that same moodiness is then brought inward to the interior. Dark stained timber is used throughout, with a lighter herringbone pattern underfoot. The kitchen also combines an element of contrast with the darker back joinery, allowing the island bench to be highlighted, encased in a white Carrera marble. Openly connected, between zones internally and out toward the garden spaces, Iron Chef combines both an industrial and a familiar residential feel.

While the exterior darkened steel façade cloaks the form of the house, an element of that same moodiness is then brought inward to the interior.

In maintaining a sense of rhythm with the neighbouring heritage neighbours, Iron Chef is a sensitive insertion into its context. Das Studio draws on warmth and texture, combining the clients’ professions and passions in a habitable and resonant dwelling.