Illuminated Weaving – Nine-Square Bondi by Madeleine Blanchfield Architects

Balancing moments of engagement and retreat, Nine-Square Bondi navigates a tightly constrained site with purpose, weaving a functional brief that playfully interacts with the streetscape. Madeleine Blanchfield Architects uses contrasting gestures to bring meaningful connections with the surrounding natural elements into the everyday experience of the home.

Defined by a previous chapter living in Hong Kong, the owners of Nine-Square Bondi wanted to bring an openness into the home to fuse their own cultural influences with a grounding in place. As the home is located within proximity to the beach, echoing the ebb and flow of the ocean into the circulation and how each of the spaces intersects was key to the planning approach. Evoking the senses, integrating the vibrancy of the area within a contained and rectilinear outer form shapes a regulated and transitional rhythm internally. While the spaces facilitate an open movement, Madeleine Blanchfield Architects overlays a sense of order in contrast.

Evoking the senses, integrating the vibrancy of the area within a contained and rectilinear outer form shapes a regulated and transitional rhythm internally.

Despite the compact nature of the site and the challenges associated with such conditions, the integration of voluminous spaces crafts a generous sense of scale and proportion from within. Together with the allocation of key outdoor areas, a unique and privately secluded retreat feel is created, softened by the native plantings that buffer the harder architectural and landscape elements. The planning combines flexibility and the ability to adapt over the coming years, with shared living spaces that flow effortlessly between inside and out and draw natural light and ventilation through the home. The vertical surfaces then become animated by through a collection of cherished artworks, layering in memories from the past in amongst the present.

Surrounded by vibrant and lush garden spaces that act as their own outdoor rooms, the otherwise restrictive site is brought to life from edge to edge. The lightness created, together with access to the natural elements, becomes a celebration of an outdoor lifestyle and encourages the owners to live passively and with the seasons as much as possible. As a sculpture, the helical stair sits restrained and contained within the outer linear floor plan and adds a moment of softness to the transition between the levels. While the foundations of the home reflect a timelessness together with references to the modernist movement and the principles of regularity, the layering within of texture, colour and tone all bring the spaces to life as a reflection of those who live within them.

The lightness created, together with access to the natural elements, becomes a celebration of an outdoor lifestyle and encourages the owners to live passively and with the seasons as much as possible.

Capturing a nostalgia from the inhabitants’ time in Hong Kong, Nine-Square Bondi ensures the outdoor and indoor spaces feel inherently connected. Also responding to Sydney life and of absorbing the seasonal shifts, Madeleine Blanchfield proposes an enduring home that can adapt and respond over time, offering a steadied base for the happenings of family life.