Connected Spaces – Wurrungwuri by Carter Williamson Architects
Exuding the immediate feeling of connection and joy, Wurrungwuri by Carter Williamson offers a pleasant experience from the home’s heritage façade to its modern extensions and waterfront rear yard. Both architect and interior designer, Carter Williamson performed the perfect collaboration, which allowed for a cohesive design that speaks to the client’s brief.
Wanting a modern renovation that would improve the structure’s original form and bring a natural connection inward, the owners of Wurrungwuri tasked Carter Williamson with the project. Carter Williamson’s design allows the clients to look back and appreciate their heritage home but also to realise how the new addition responds to the original form and the harbour surrounds.
From the front door, one experiences a warm welcome as they step into the original home, with living spaces to one side and bedrooms to the other. Built as a threshold between the old and new, there is an inviting space in which a double-height void has been integrated. Acting as a gallery-like feature, the void allows for a connection to the dining room below. In addition, there is another void placed further down the hall, with views to the harbour and down into one of the living spaces. As one continues down to the middle level, the main entertaining rooms are slowly introduced, including the dining room that sits directly under the void that features a Tom Dixon chandelier.
Below this is the cabana room, which acts as the great lounge room, designed for both relaxation and entertainment. To the other side of the ground level is the elongated TV room, fit with a sliding door to separate it from the other spaces. In addition, both rooms have terraces that link together, allowing for a swift transition between them and inside and out. Set between these two terraces are stairs that cascade down to the rear yard, with a sandstone seawall and jetty allowing for an appreciation of the waterfront surrounds. A generous roof terrace then sits above, within a garden offering ample views of the harbour beyond. Considering the home’s surrounds, Carter Williamson does not employ the same design tactics as nearby residences. Instead, walls and sliding doors are employed to deliberately harness views in each room and encourage an appreciation of the home’s design.
Referencing the materiality of the home’s original sandstone make-up, Carter Williamson employs glass, blonde bricks and concrete to form the main structure of the home. These materials are further expressed throughout the interior design – additional layers of texture and tactility bring the monumentality of the home’s architecture to a domestic scale. A collaboration between the client’s ambition, the architects’ design and the builder’s craftmanship, Wurrungwuri’s seamless merging of old and new exemplifies the ease of working with various parties to reach one goal.
