An Elevated Legacy – North Bondi by Greg Natale

Combining a heightened coastal residential experience, North Bondi continues the narrative embedded into the past of the building and reinterprets it through a modern lens. Greg Natale draws on an Art Deco playfulness to propose a home that feels like the ideal disconnect, idyllically separated from the world below.

Originally built in the 1970s, North Bondi combines a vibrancy of colour and tonality to match its experimental past. In bringing a contemporary relevance to the lofted home, a number of the existing internal walls needed to be removed to open up the otherwise enclosing floor plan and allow for a better sense of connection and flow. With views stretching outward over the ocean, optimising sightlines and visual access was key to the new works, ensuring a reminder of place could be felt throughout the home. The internal reworking sees both an opening up and a more cohesive planning structure embedded, while retaining the essence of the building and its origins. Greg Natale looks to the multitude of preserved Art Deco architectural gems in the area to combine a similar experimental liveliness into the resulting home.

The living, dining and kitchen spaces now echo that of any modern home, where the three all bleed into one and become the beating heart of the residence.

With only minor architectural modifications, the encasing walls of the apartment remain in place with the new resulting in a revised vision. Dotted throughout is a carefully curated series of sculptural furniture and lighting elements that add to the embedded narrative of the geometries of the Art Deco movement. Edges are softened and a greater sense of flow is achieved throughout with the introduction of curves, encouraging movement and openness. The living, dining and kitchen spaces now echo that of any modern home, where the three all bleed into one and become the beating heart of the residence.

Stucco-effect ceilings bind the spaces together, adding a welcomed textural element for the incoming sun and the reflections bouncing off the nearby water. A perforated bulkhead band hides air conditioning units, amenity and structural members, so as to not distract from the design and its unique gestures. By opening up sightlines, the focus becomes the view beyond – a moving and animated backdrop for the everyday rituals within the apartment. The palette draws from the original 1970s eclecticism where burnt orange, pale blues and other contrasting tones were used in abundance. Increasing the scale and by drawing the eye upward and outward, the overall internal volumes feel intentionally larger and instil a sense of removed calm.

The palette draws from the original 1970s eclecticism where burnt orange, pale blues and other contrasting tones were used in abundance.

North Bondi creatively nods to heritage whilst ensuring a contemporary and open focus, allowing Greg Natale to craft a refreshing and inimitable home in the process.