Unexpected Industrial – Brunswick Yard by Carr

Words by Bronwyn Marshall
Architecture by Carr
Photography by Timothy Kaye
Interior Design by Carr
Styling by Carr
Landscape Plant Charmer

As an immersive experience that bridges the traditional display suite and installation typologies, Brunswick Yard embodies the spirit of the industrial-inspired residences it presents. Carr elevates the storied and layered narrative that is Brunswick and proposes a series of homes that respond with fitting refinement.

The typical display suite acts as a prelude and teaser for the proposed and creates the opportunity to experience a space through select texture, joinery and finishes. Brunswick Yard is a little different. As it sits atop the same site as its proposed development, drawing on influences of its surrounds and context, it conjures a snippet of the planned multi-story residences intended. The space is imagined as an experiential journey rather than being a sample residence and instead focuses on creating the core ideas of highly detailed, restrained, biophilic-focussed and naturally illuminated spaces as the development is founded on. Behind the neatly detailed metal screen façade, the interior echoes the area’s industrial past, elevated through purposefully curated insertions. Carr creates dedicated zones for interested parties to then engage with the design, accessed behind a series of sheer drapes that softly delineate the space.

Through a breaking down of the spaces into their elemental pieces, each is then presented on a series of interpreted podiums, elevated and as a showcase.

Built by Small Projects and Element Five, Brunswick Yard aims to challenge the ideas behind the traditional display suite offerings. The metaphor of podium is expressed as a reinterpretation of the traditional display suite model. Through a breaking down of the spaces into their elemental pieces, each is then presented on a series of interpreted podiums, elevated and as a showcase. The separation from the ground plane acts as a means of display, emphasised through subtlety. Instead of creating a mock version of the end resolve, there is a careful understanding of how the space is intended to feel that is celebrated, allowing breathing room between each of the comprising elements.

A series of deconstructed zones are therefore inserted as key features of the planned residences, breaking down the large existing warehouse volume. Other areas allow moments of pause and reflection, akin to the public and shared spaces within the development, where an emphasised inclusion of plantings by Plant Charmer is integrated throughout. Tonally, the space offers a monochromatic sensibility with a focus on various dilutions of grey. The overall feel is then broken up by natural materiality and metal details that add both texture and a crisp edge.

Other areas allow moments of pause and reflection, akin to the public and shared spaces within the development, where an emphasised inclusion of plantings by Plant Charmer is integrated throughout.

Brunswick Yard embodies an experimental spirit, matched by the development, where Carr has created a unique foreword to the upcoming residences, emphasising feel and ambiance.