Dark and Immersive – The Pad by Suzanne Hunt Architect

Expressed with a darkened materiality that coalesces with the surrounding environment, The Pad is the ideal backdrop for ageing in place. Suzanne Hunt Architect draws on the established and trusting relationship with the client to carefully craft a befitting forever home.

Located in South Perth, The Pad opens to the waterfront through relaxed and generous openings that frame the calming rhythm of the water’s ripples and reflections. A clear connection to nature is integrated into the home at its core, with a living and breathing centre that opens to allow natural breezes to enter the home. Having originally worked together on previous projects, the owner was familiar with the architectural design process. Suzanne Hunt Architect works to the lifestyle of the client to help facilitate the desire to downsize in crafting the considered home.

Suzanne Hunt Architect works to the lifestyle of the client to help facilitate the desire to downsize in crafting the considered home.

Taking inspiration from Japanese architecture, the resulting home is deeply connection to the natural environment and surrounding locale. The Pad sees a series of moodier and darker elements cloak the interior, providing the home with a versatility to feel either connected or protected from the outdoors. Creating a place of calm retreat was key for the overall feeling of the home, allowing the single level home to be traversed with ease. The extensive use of timber underfoot flows between the indoor and outdoor areas, creating a fluid transition of movement across the threshold between inside and out.

The Pad sits as a modest insertion, respectfully responding to the existing built fabric. The interior courtyard space facilitates a natural connection, featuring unobstructed access to the sky and opening and closing to the internal spaces as needed. With the courtyard featuring as the central focus of the extension, the funnelling of movement toward the shared and open living room at the rear ensures that – with social events – the space can easily spill out into the landscaped addition.

The Pad sits as a modest insertion, respectfully responding to the existing built fabric.

Optimising views out toward the city and its unique location, The Pad emerges as a cocooning home for its residents. Through a textural and layered response, Suzanne Hunt Architect navigates the flanked site with ease, focusing on a connection to nature as the core experience of the home.