Soft Layering – Woollahra Residence by Parker Studio

Set amongst the treetops, Woollahra Residence takes inspiration from the surrounding natural tones, folding them into the interior with deliberation and purpose. Parker Studio reworks the interior and creates an expanded overall volume to echo a calm sense of retreat, layering in textures and a lightness that immediately cocoons.

Spread over multiple levels, the original home needed alignment. With several renovations and additions over time, little remained on the ground floor of the original detailing and narrative of the home. In bringing a sense of cohesion to the entire site, the renovations on the lower level were realigned, and the upper level becomes more openly and outwardly focused. Home to a family of five, the result sees a light and open series of spaces connect, softened by a combination of neutral and muted elements that become the ideal backdrop for the growing needs of the occupants over the coming years. Parker Studio combines warmth and a detailed rigour, allowing the focus of the home to remain the surrounding enviable positioning amongst an established landscape.

Combining soft putty tones in the integrated joinery and the expressive curved kitchen island, light coloured timber floorboards run underfoot and provide a connecting natural warmth.

With a new addition to the rear, the original elements of the home were restored, and a common palette of welcoming and casual tones bind the old and new. As in many contemporary homes, the combined living, dining and kitchen space becomes the heart. Located to the rear amongst the tree canopies and with fully operable doors and windows that fold away from view, the space can be opened to allow both ventilation and movement between inside and out. Defining the interior edge is a refined and thinly detailed steel balustrade that sits delicately and unobtrusive along the threshold. Combining soft putty tones in the integrated joinery and the expressive curved kitchen island, light coloured timber floorboards run underfoot and provide a connecting natural warmth.

Offering a balance of sorts between the lighter areas of the home are moments of more saturated and intense colour, adding an unexpected animation. The powder room and entry hall use deeper colours and patterning of intense blues and greens to tie in more of the traditional origins of the home and as a result become a destination of their own. While a base of subdued tones sets the mood, handmade tiles and brass fixtures within bathrooms, kitchen and joinery further elevates these areas. Enhancing the moments of interaction with the more permanent and integrated features of the home both incites memory and ensures a more enduring finish.

While a base of subdued tones sets the mood, handmade tiles and brass fixtures within bathrooms, kitchen and joinery further elevates these areas.

Immersive as a home that embraces its location and a moment in time, Woollahra Residences neatly folds together past and present. Park Studio ensures a lasting resolve through the combined approach of texture and tone, idyllically capturing the idea of the home as a removed escape from the urban context within which it sits.