Personable and Functional – Picture in A Frame by Meredith Clark Design

A stone’s throw from Sydney’s famous Coogee Beach, in the neighbouring suburban streets of Randwick, is a Federation house with a contemporary extension. Picture in A Frame by interior architecture firm Meredith Clark Design has taken cues from its traditional exterior to create an unexpected interior full of light and warmth.

Walking past at street level, Picture in A Frame appears like any Federation home. Asymmetric gables with decorative timber gently probe the blue sky along with an abundance of tall gums. The dark brickwork on the other hand, is an often less evocative material, and one could easily be led to speculate about an old-fashioned interior beyond its front door. But once inside, Meredith Clark Design’s brand of personable and functional interior architecture becomes immediately apparent and redefines expectation.

“Although the client lives near the beach,” Meredith recalls, “they wanted to create a more laid-back European feel throughout the living spaces with emphasis on natural textures and finishes.”

Skylights on both sides of the pitched roof allow the entry sequence to be guided by natural brightness. Stairs ascend past existing brickwork, painted white with subtle warmth to contrast the restored sandstone blockwork beneath. These material moments are complemented by polished concrete, beginning at the top of the staircase and extending throughout the open plan, devised to connect the various living spaces and its occupants. “Although the client lives near the beach,” Meredith recalls, “they wanted to create a more laid-back European feel throughout the living spaces with emphasis on natural textures and finishes.” Meredith collaborated with Atelier Lab to style the home according to the client’s unique taste and penchant for European furnishings, most of which was sourced through Fred Furniture, a leading distributor of contemporary Scandinavian-designed furniture and lighting.

These material moments are complemented by polished concrete, beginning at the top of the staircase and extending throughout the open plan, devised to connect the various living spaces and its occupants.

Whilst a sense of openness is established upstairs in the communal living areas, the opposite is achieved in more private spaces. Another staircase hugs the restored sandstone wall and descends into a place of deep retreat for two bedrooms, a bathroom and separate living area. The sandstone becomes a natural feature in these two bedrooms and continues the underlying reference to the home’s original materiality.

There are several key moments throughout Picture in A Frame that define Meredith Clark Design’s attentiveness to conceiving and implementing outside-the-box solutions. This is particularly evident in the case of bespoke joinery. Enlisting the experienced assistance of Jim Zondanos from 7-3 Design and Joinery, a series of conceal and reveal doors and cabinets is created. Upstairs, for example, in the entirely American white oak kitchen, panels conceal a small butler’s pantry painted a forest green. And the same happens downstairs, where bathrooms and bedrooms are accessed via a double doorway recessed into a cut section of the sandstone blocks.

“We spent a lot of time getting the connection between the new extension and the old house right,” Meredith claims. “Simplifying the new extension and the way it integrated with the old house was key.”

It’s no easy feat to mould an old structure to suit modern times, but it’s something that Meredith Clark Design handles with great care. “We spent a lot of time getting the connection between the new extension and the old house right,” Meredith claims. “Simplifying the new extension and the way it integrated with the old house was key.”

Much like all of Meredith’s projects, Picture in A Frame is named after a song title. Though the Norah Jones reference is obscure, the project name works on a number of other levels. It refers to the home’s A-frame design, but also to the function of the windows and how they create pictures by framing the landscape and sky beyond.

It’s no easy feat to mould an old structure to suit modern times, but it’s something that Meredith Clark Design handles with great care.

The windows are also a significant factor in the home’s thermal performance. Throughout the course of construction, the clients became profoundly interested in passive housing. With the determined help of builder Neubelle, Picture in A Frame is now on track to become one of the first retrofit passive houses in Australia.

Picture in A Frame respectfully honours the traditional aspects of a Federation home. It is yet another distinctive project in Meredith Clark Design’s wheelhouse, representing a thriving practice that is not restrained by any one particular style or niche.