Inside Out House

by Amber Road

From The Designer

Inside out – outside in, this re-furb blurs boundaries by creating multi-use zones. All carefully resolved through an abundance of custom elements, layered to visually bind the inside and out without repetition. Architectural details inspired by a single piece of Mexican artwork from the client’s own private collection.

This dilapidated 700sqm free standing dwelling had seen years of renovations, creating a mish mash of architectural styles or lack thereof.  The clients wanted a private retreat, which meant a new balcony off the master bedroom to replace the existing sliding door and a 6m plus drop.  With endless amounts of Mission render to visually negate, a simple rectangular shaped box served as the first floor balcony off the new master suite. Every surface outside the box remained textured, and everything captured internally was rendered flat. Decorative iron balustrades were replaced with strong flat bar details and coloured glass replaced twee ironwork in existing openings to staircases.

To create a clear flowing floor plan, three existing unusable rooms were demolished. New partitions stopped short of the ceiling and sat independent to their neighbouring walls, truly making spaces feel private but connected. A generous breezeway, lined with custom black stained sliding louvers allowed the façade to shift in colour and shape with the sun’s movements. To better link the externals to inside, exterior finishes were extended internally, creating a striking slate strip feature at the threshold which met a warm and luxurious textured wall to wall carpet.

Colours, combining rich wines and navy’s with cool greys, crisp whites and strong blacks were extracted from the influential artwork, [multi-coloured, woven and perforated in nature with circular motifs] and introduced through small moments in joinery and visually repeated through PET light fittings, Patricia Urquiola’s Cocoon chair, perforated balcony returns and slim vertical balustrade details. The circular motif repeated through custom gate details and entry way mirror.

An abundance of customisation including stained mulberry bed side niches, carved into silver bedheads, TV units, open libraries, makeup areas, leather desk surfaces and curvaceous wall mounted credenzas, all contribute to an exceedingly calm and collected facade.