Extending a Narrative – Bronte House by Boffi Studio Sydney and Justin Long Design
Extending the existing heritage house while embracing its period past, Boffi Studio Sydney, architects Justin Long Design and landscape designers Dangar Barin Smith come together to create a crisply refined future narrative for the home.
Located in Sydney’s Bronte, the home of the same name is afforded extensive coastal views. As an existing period-style house, injecting an element of the contemporary into the heritage spaces through an opening up and expanding of the original was key. Equally important, however, was the preservation of elements that maintain the core character. The collaboration across interiors, landscape and architecture sees an all-encompassing approach transform and enliven the existing, connecting to its generous coastal site.
Straddled between the typically coastal and a more urban location befitting a bespoke luxurious home, Bronte House reflects a fusion of the two environments.
The design combines the owner’s affection for the previous architectural features of the home and adoration for more contemporary spaces. Creating an effortless flow and transition between the old and new became the key focus, both restoring key elements of the existing while adding new features without allowing one to overwhelm the other. The resulting approach sees elements such as scale, proportion and a sense of luxury maintained throughout, with the more ornate and crafted details expressing time periods in subtle and nuanced ways. Large openings, windows and operable façade elements connect the interior to the exterior and newly conceived landscape, carefully navigating and responding to the site and its coastal conditions. Dangar Barin Smith integrates considered permanent seating with natural textured finishes and climate-appropriate plantings, creating an enduring series of considered moments.
Straddled between the typically coastal and a more urban location befitting a bespoke luxurious home, Bronte House reflects a fusion of the two environments. It also fuses elements of time in the preservation of the existing heritage components and detailing and the proposed contemporary clean lines. The palette speaks to the coastal condition, bringing in lighter finishes, together with textured grey that references the adjacent natural rockface. As a feature of the new is the introduction of Boffi custom joinery in the kitchen, bathrooms and robes, which is accompanied by Salvatori stone.
