Designing with Empathy – Deepdene Residence by Freadman White

Freadman White believes in designing with empathy, and one need only explore the studio’s work to find proof of this ethos translating into the built form. With an innate ability to respond evocatively to briefing and site requirements, deliberate and hidden gestures permeate Freadman White’s projects, creating moments of intimacy and celebration informed by context. In many ways, Deepdene Residence exemplifies this approach, illustrating the architects’ understanding of how place and form are inextricably linked.

Ilana Freadman and Michael White – the husband-and-wife duo behind the eponymous practice – begin each project with the intent to humanise the space. “You really can’t be a sincere designer without having empathy, and that’s what manifests into an architectural language,” Michael offers.

“You really can’t be a sincere designer without having empathy, and that’s what manifests into an architectural language,” Michael offers.

For Deepdene Residence, the clients engaged Freadman White to reimagine their home of 25 years, in order to not only age in place but realise the home’s full potential and unlock under-utilised spaces. The brief included creating a master suite on the ground level (previously it was located on the first floor), extending the living room to connect with the garden, and redesigning the kitchen.

Compression and expansion are recurring themes in Freadman White’s work, and this interaction has been explored in the living zones of Deepdene Residence. Working with the low existing ceiling height in the kitchen, the architects created extra height in the new living area, adding a skylight and curved ceiling detail, “softening that transition between the existing and the proposed,” Ilana says.

The kitchen required a redesign to transform the layout and respond to the clients’ brief for both formal and informal dining. “The home has become the hub of the extended family, so the clients wanted the kitchen to function in a homely way when it’s just the two of them, and a more sophisticated manner with catering and the like for big family occasions,” Ilana says. Located between the formal dining room at the front and the new open-plan living area at the back, the kitchen now includes a butler’s pantry and servery concealed behind cleverly designed cabinetry that, as Michael says, “can be closed down or opened up depending on the function of the day.”

The living area flows from the kitchen and opens onto the terrace and park beyond. At night, it is an intimate space with considered lighting and subdued qualities. But during the day, the large glass doors retract creating a blurred demarcation between inside and out. “The doors operate in a way that they really open up the corner of the living area. It’s an uninterrupted transition, as the main column that supports the canopy is positioned externally,” Michael explains.

The relocation of the master suite has allowed for further exploration of intimate moments and elevated details. “We wanted to create some private zones with passive surveillance and views to the garden, that also allowed for natural light,” Michael says.

Framing the landscape and understanding how light moves through this house are where the architects have truly hit their stride. The house is elevated on the block and offers views to the community oval where weekly cricket games are played in the summer months. “The clients are really into their cricket and have access to the park, so we saw an opportunity there. They can now watch their grandkids playing from the extended terrace or watch the cricket while enjoying a few drinks with friends. There’s a really lovely connection to the landscape forms through the back,” Michael says.

The relocation of the master suite allowed for further exploration of intimate moments and elevated details. “We wanted to create some private zones with passive surveillance and views to the garden, that also allowed for natural light,” Michael says. The inverted arch brick wall outside the ensuite is the realisation of this. Not only does it provide privacy, but it perfectly frames an existing tree in the garden. Meanwhile, the shower has indirect views to the garden through “a carving out of volumes” and spatial planning, and it also benefits from natural light. Transitions come into play again too – Elba marble has been used to clad the deepened reveal in the doorway from the ensuite to the private courtyard, as Michael believes “it makes for a more deliberate transition to and from these spaces.”

“The materials selection is a solution to the functionality or the problem, and that’s ultimately the design process for us – using the finer elements to solve bigger issues or briefing requirements,” Ilana says.

Among the many soft, intangible features of this home, there is perhaps one element that can be more easily quantified: the red brick brise-soleil. Being east facing, the home experiences beautiful, dappled morning light. As the sun moves across the face of the building to the right in the afternoons, the home is hit with direct afternoon light. “The brise-soleil is a solar-heat-gain-mitigating device. It sits on the north orientation, so that in the hotter months of the year it blocks sun from hitting the steel framed windows, but in winter the sunlight is low enough that it penetrates really nicely,” Michael explains.

As an architectural feature, the brise-soleil is captivating; it enriches the building’s materiality and form. However, as the architects humbly explain, it is purely their response to a challenge – elegant and dynamic as it is. “It starts with necessity,” Ilana says. “If you want to have this large vista that opens out to the park but you’re concerned with heat gain and loss, then how do you layer that up? The materials selection is a solution to the functionality or the problem, and that’s ultimately the design process for us – using the finer elements to solve these bigger issues or briefing requirements.”

It is an ethos that speaks to the heart of the project’s success. Sincere architecture simply cannot be forged – it takes a certain sensitivity, an undoubtable strength possessed by Freadman White. As Deepdene Residence exemplifies, this powerful combination of both sensitivity and pragmatism is born of a genuine desire to positively affect people’s lives with good design.