A Valiant Insertion – Rose Bay by Popov Bass and Karen Tabak Interiors

Drawing from the solidity needed to anchor the home in place on its sloping site, Rose Bay sits firmly and confidently, with views stretching outward and key mechanisms integrated to bring in vital natural light. PopovBass and Karen Tabak Interiors combine to navigate the site with sensitivity, crafting the end result to leave a lasting impression on the surrounding context.

In its opportune siting looking out over its namesake, Rose Bay, the resulting home is a newly formed residence that is inspired by a needed resilience among the surrounding coastal conditions. Formed mainly from concrete and glass, a balance is created between both heavy and lighter elements on site, allowing each to either soften or weigh down the other in place. Creating a home that responded to the geographical terrain was important for PopovBass, and Rose Bay sees the practice ensure an architectural resolve that celebrates a sense of place and expresses those who live within. Together with Karen Tabak Interiors, the team combines vital layers inside, as well as a series of curated outdoor spaces that act as their own dedicated destinations.

In its opportune siting looking out over its namesake, Rose Bay, the resulting home is a newly formed residence that is inspired by a needed resilience among the surrounding coastal conditions.

By aligning the multiple levels of the home with the slope of the site, the lower level is able to nuzzle down into the base, whilst the upper levels allow for enhanced access to views over the bay. Throughout the structure, opportunities for more areas of intimate and private retreat are combined with a shared openness to connect the interior with the outside. Encouraging that flow between inside and out is employed across all spaces and emphasised through large encasing floor to ceiling glazing. Within the rectilinear outer envelope of the home, a round stair is positioned centrally as a sculpture of its own, ushering movement between the levels. Matching this curved language, skylights of similar geometries are dotted throughout to bring natural light deep down through the home.

As a gesture to screen visual access into the home, the landscape is used to create a natural buffer between the home and the streetscape. At pedestrian level and trailing upwards, a series of garden beds creates both privacy and an important disconnect between the home and the street. Wanting to use the site in its entirety, the building form stretches to the outer limits of the site. Once inside, an assortment of enriching textures adds warmth to the volumes within, bringing a familiar residential sensibility together with a generosity of scale – a feeling that remains throughout.

Creating a home that responded to the geographical terrain was important for PopovBass, and Rose Bay sees the practice ensure an architectural resolve that celebrates a sense of place and expresses those who live within.

By defining the limits of what is public and what is private, Rose Bay ensures its presence whilst honouring the existing and established neighbourhood. PopovBass and Karen Tabak Interiors combine to use restraint and subtleties to animate the home, imprinting a longevity and legacy for its owners.