Family Focus – Sorrento Residence by Emily Gillis and Planned Living Architects

Expanding its existing spaces, Sorrento Residence sees the completion of a new chapter for its owners, who wanted to transform the occasional holiday home into a permanent residence. Emily Gillis and Planned Living Architects combine to extend the original house, creating open volumes around which the family can all gather.

Originally built in the mid 1970s, Sorrento Residence is given a new lease on life, carefully crafted to combine old and new. Drawing focus to the location and views out, the home needed to reflect the proximity to the ocean, yet not be a literal reference and also weave in a contemporary liveability. In defining the approach, Emily Gillis combines warm and textural tones to create a calming base palette that other objects, furniture and artwork animate. Matching the casual and laid-back nature of coastal living, an openness within the new areas is combined with a simplified approach.

In defining the approach, Emily Gillis combines warm and textural tones to create a calming base palette that other objects, furniture and artwork animate.

Located in its namesake, and with a desire to be able to host younger generations, the owners wanted to create a more expanded and comfortable home. Whilst the original parameters of the structure dictated a number of constraints, these gave a framework within which the new alterations could take place. Needing to accommodate a fluctuating number of guests, the residence needed to still retain the intimacy that it had prior and be able to expand when needed. A key part of that enhanced feeling was the integration of joinery and storage to support the everyday.

At the heart sits the newly formed and open living, dining and kitchen space. Leaving the existing and smaller areas as places of retreat, the living area connects outward to the landscape and views in the distance. Throughout, movement is created and overlaid within finishes and surfaces, allowing the changed interaction with light throughout the day to subtly alter and change. Nods to a nautical style through the use of blues is also integrated, but with a refined and contemporary approach.

Matching the casual and laid-back nature of coastal living, an openness within the new areas is combined with a simplified approach.

Sorrento Residence is built upon an existing foundation and is reimagined for future generations. Emily Gillis and Planned Living Architects have embedded a sense of permanence and timelessness through the applied openness and restraint.