Yukari House by Tanev Muir Architects

This year’s Residential Interior winner of The (Emerging) Designer Awards presented by Artedomus and The Local Project, Yukari House develops relationships between residents, their home and the surrounding environment. While reimagining an existing structure, Tanev Muir Architects was inspired by Japanese culture and endeavoured to emphasise life’s day-to-day rituals.

Located at the end of a leafy street in Byron Bay, Yukari House adjoins the Arakwal National Park. The nearby trees and wildlife are thoroughly established and the park appears ancient, inspiring contemplation. Tanev Muir Architects encouraged reflection of the surrounds by crafting nuanced spaces that allow residents to linger in the moments between activities. “The philosophy of the project balances between shadow and light,” says Peter Tanevski, architect at Tanev Muir Architects. “It can’t easily be characterised as a space that is modernist, open-plan and has nowhere to hide, and at the same time it can’t be characterised as being cavernous.”

Tanev Muir Architects encourages reflection by crafting nuanced spaces that allow residents to linger in the moments between activities.

Expressing a measured approach to interiors, Yukari House comprises a series of rooms both connected and partitioned using joinery. “Rather than open or closed, on or off, we wanted the joinery and the partition furnishing in Yukari House to have a constantly active state,” says Tanevski. In the main living area, the television is concealed inside a cabinet with a sliding door, highlighting the movement between conditions as a valuable part of life. Elsewhere, an automated composite glazing system – in which a blind can drop to mitigate heat in summer – features internal timber reveals.

“The kitchen was the most important aspect to our client,” says Laura Muirhead, architect at Tanev Muir Architects. “We moved the kitchen to the centre of the home; this was integral to its new role of housing a space of collaboration, coming together and cooking shared meals.” To enable the clients to face their guests while cooking, a fine, spotted gum table is slotted directly into a monolithic stone island. Positioned in the centre of the space at bar level, the table not only accommodates seated dinners but allows the greatest number of people to circulate the kitchen-dining area.

Expressing a measured approach to space, Yukari House comprises a series of rooms both connected and partitioned using joinery.

Throughout the project, considered materials and forms enhance spatial function. In the reconfigured bathroom, a modest, rectangular bathtub contributes to a calming environment that speaks to the Japanese concept of bathing. In Japan, completing the bathing ritual can achieve both physical cleanliness and spiritual rejuvenation, and to this end, Yukari House’s bathroom is serene. A semi-extruded, stainless-steel basin evoking the image of Kiyomasa’s Well reinforces the Japanese character of the space. Outside, a circular bathtub echoes the curves found in nature and, with a view of the treetops, offers a more open bathing experience.

“I think Australian architecture is changing from a quantitative space, where we talk about the amount of things that are in a house, and shifting to a dialogue which celebrates the qualities and emotional capacity of architecture,” says Tanevski. “I hope this house is part of that lasting legacy and is a contributor to that change.”

Architecture and interior design by Tanev Muir Architects.