Ashfield Apartments

by Archier Architecture

The conversion of an existing 1960s living complex into a more open and modern living space.

The Ashfield Apartments Project was a significant modification to an already existing 1960s apartment complex, overdue for a new lease of life.

Designers Archier, created the project as an exploratory investment, undertaken directly by themselves, in-order-to clarify and structure the special layout of the existing apartment design.

This also allowed for the designers to explore materials and methods of their own choosing to create their own unique imprint into the spaces of the newly renovated apartment.

The result was spaces of light and airiness, created with the addition of extra wide glass panelled windows, for more natural light in the space, the layering of pale European oak herringbone floors and the construction of whitewashed Russian birch ply kitchen and wardrobes.

With amazing views of Mount Wellington, and multiple sources of natural light, Archier’s focus on the new design and layout of the apartment, was to open up each space in order to benefit these attributes.

Key changes to the untouched 1960s plan included the demolition of two walls; which enclosed the kitchen, enlarging the bedroom doors; making them wider and taller, adding new flooring throughout and the modernisation of the kitchen and bathroom.

Designers also used recessed sliding door tracks throughout, for many of the room, to further extended the sense of space in the living area.

When removing the walls structural steel was inserted in plane with the timber roof structure, creating a seamless transition between spaces that a bulkhead wouldn’t allow.

The kitchen layout was designed and focused with the idea of efficiency and space. Shallow top drawers for quick and every day access were included, large bottom drawers for pots and pans were added, and a central hidden drawer for many occasional use items were also added.

A tall, multi-drawer unit designed pantry was also included in the new kitchen plan, which allowed extra space for an integrated dishwasher.

This idea of hidden storage to allow for extra space was also created in the bedrooms of the apartment, where full-height wardrobes, with large integrated drawers maximise the use of space.

The compact footprint throughout the design, allowed for the evolution of a dark and awkward 1960s space, to grow into a modern space of light and space.

Photographs by Josh Fitzgerald.

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