An Experimental Reimagining – Sunrise House by Jolson

Redefining the traditional combined work/life condition, Sunrise House reimagines a contemporary cross pollination of functionality within the one space. Jolson takes an experimental, yet refined approach, in carving his own work and home, encased within the one building: an existing confectionary factory in Melbourne’s Prahran.

Tucked away behind the storied façade of its previous occupation, Sunrise House takes its name from the original occupants of the space – Sunrise Confectioners – where its history is preserved, and the new adds a layered approach. Behind its heritage skin, the interior is completely repurposed to create a combined home and office scenario for its occupants, defined by how they uniquely live. Home to designer Jolson himself, he shares the space with his wife and two children, which is carefully curated to allow for both living and working to coexist harmoniously, while still distinctively separate. Located in Melbourne’s inner south, the highly detailed and eclectic context within which the building is located also inspires a personalised approach. Jolson combines a heightened and highly detailed approach to his home, that acts as a reflection of the work conducted within the adjoining studio space, as an all-encompassing and evolved vision of one masterplan.

Throughout, a feeling of restraint underpins each of the spaces, while a matched generosity of volume is accentuated through the clear and open connection between inside and out.

Throughout, a feeling of restraint underpins each of the spaces, while a matched generosity of volume is accentuated through the clear and open connection between inside and out. Spread over two levels, the upper levels allow a sense of retreat, where the materiality and an injected softness encourages a passivity. The lower level then houses the living and office spaces, both separate, but with their own sense of place. The entry to the home ensures its own moment is created and accentuates the transition. Accessed over a floating and back-lit set of stairs, wrapped in steel, the materiality and rawness of the entry to the residence, acts as a preclude for the clean lines and attention to detail to come.

The kitchen, living and dining spaces are cleverly defined by the creation of three large rectilinear volumes that define and separate each through subtle shifts. The kitchen both heroes its monolithic stone island bench and conceals the amenity behind an operable full height wall of joinery, allowing the designed objects to be sculptural additions to the space when not in use. On the more active level, the palette responds through its robustness, and a darker and more dramatic presence. European oak flooring adds texture and warmth on the upper level, while polished concrete crisply leads out to the established and lush courtyard garden space.

The kitchen both heroes its monolithic stone island bench and conceals the amenity behind an operable full height wall of joinery, allowing the designed objects to be sculptural additions to the space when not in use.

In its reimagining, Sunrise House focusses on integrating the past through maintaining the façade, while creating its own contemporary series of spaces, where Jolson deliberately deviate from the site’s industrial past.