The Alma by Dalecki Design

Set amid North Perth’s dynamic coffee, restaurant, bar and live music scene, The Alma celebrates the homeowners’ next phase of life by indulging their shared love of Art Deco architecture, art and design.

Drawn from the outer suburbs to enjoy North Perth’s urban spirit, the clients enlisted Dalecki Design to redesign their newly acquired 1940s duplex into a vibrant adult’s retreat. The property’s well-preserved arched openings resonated with the homeowners and inspired the design team to develop a synergetic visual language with sweeping, arched and circular motifs explored through architectural gestures to fine-grain interior details. “We considered the house not only as a showcase of the clients’ furniture and art collection but as a piece of bold, collectible design in itself,” reflects Janik Dalecki.

The property’s well-preserved arched openings resonated with the homeowners and inspired the design team to develop a synergetic visual language with sweeping, arched and circular motifs explored through architectural gestures to fine-grain interior details.

Transitioning through the home’s intimate frontage and entryway, the new addition is celebrated as a dramatic spatial counterpoint – a curved, double-height volume awash with natural light. At its centre, a generous kitchen elevates the clients’ everyday rituals into a series of memorable experiences while supporting their ongoing love of entertaining. Inspired by the suburb’s hospitality scene, Dalecki says, “by day, the kitchen’s coffee nook, window seat and six-metre-long island bench offer an uplifting cafe-style setting, which transforms into a moodier, bar-inspired space by night.”

To the rear, an in-built fireplace and barbeque anchors an outdoor living space with direct access to the home’s kitchen scullery, laundry and store. Given the home’s corner positioning, “this setting creates a privacy buffer to the main house and carves a unique opportunity to connect with the busy street and local community when the clients desire,” explains Dalecki. Internally, the home’s disordered arrangement of rooms, passageways and doorways is distilled into a logical spatial sequence that supports the homeowners’ active lifestyle. The removal of a small, windowless bedroom expands the main bedroom suite with a walk-through robe and ensuite, while a new sitting room creates a quiet retreat and intermediary zone between the couple’s public and private spaces.

Transitioning through the home’s intimate frontage and entryway, the new addition is celebrated as a dramatic spatial counterpoint – a curved, double-height volume awash with natural light.

Throughout, the character of the original structure is honoured in material and form. Externally, red-brick walls tenderly reference the home’s original masonry construction, complemented by contemporary accents in smooth render and blackened timber cladding. The residence’s grand archways are faithfully echoed – from the addition’s sweeping rear facade and window seat to the rounded profile of the island bench, curved floor transitions and arched and circular mirrors — while its Art Deco origins are celebrated in a monochromatic palette of terrazzo and banded mosaic tiles, offset by elegant brass tapware and fittings.

While Dalecki Design added just 25 square metres to the  overall footprint, the impact of the redesign is immeasurable. “Direct views to the garden, neighbouring treetops and sky maximise the home’s sense of scale and connection to the environment,” says Dalecki. Sharp yet sympathetic distinctions between old and new craft a considered journey throughout, delivering a personalised, hospitality-driven design that supports the purposeful and poetic nature of the client’s living rituals: from playing music to entertaining friends, family and neighbours.

Building design by Dalecki Design. Build by Element Construction WA.