Dar­linghurst Stu­dio Apart­ment Refurbishment

This project is the ren­o­va­tion of an apart­ment with­in a for­mer fac­to­ry build­ing in Dar­linghurst that has been adap­tive­ly reused for res­i­den­tial occu­pa­tion. Occu­py­ing a cor­ner posi­tion on the sec­ond floor, the apart­ment com­pris­es just 50 square metres beneath a gen­er­ous 3.5‑metre-high ceil­ing, with win­dows on two sides pro­vid­ing nat­ur­al light and ven­ti­la­tion. Hav­ing been occu­pied for sev­er­al decades, the apart­ment had become tired and dilap­i­dat­ed. Its renew­al demon­strates a mod­el for sus­tain­able urban liv­ing: extend­ing the life of an exist­ing build­ing while pro­vid­ing a home with­in walk­ing dis­tance of employ­ment, ser­vices and the city.

The inter­ven­tion is delib­er­ate­ly restrained. Mate­ri­als are lim­it­ed almost exclu­sive­ly to hoop pine ply­wood, used through­out the kitchen, stor­age join­ery, mez­za­nine bed plat­form, study desk and dress­ing area. These ele­ments are com­ple­ment­ed by a stain­less-steel bench­top and a mir­rored splashback.

Although com­pact, the objec­tive was to cre­ate a series of dis­tinct yet inter­con­nect­ed spaces that are effi­cient, com­fort­able and high­ly func­tion­al. Beyond meet­ing prac­ti­cal needs, the design sought to make clear and leg­i­ble archi­tec­tur­al inter­ven­tions that con­tribute delight and char­ac­ter to every­day life. Le Cor­busier’s twen­ti­eth-cen­tu­ry dic­tum that ​“a house is a machine for liv­ing” remains rel­e­vant; how­ev­er, con­tem­po­rary hous­ing must also acknowl­edge mate­ri­al­i­ty, sus­tain­abil­i­ty and our rela­tion­ship with the envi­ron­ment. This project attempts to bal­ance those con­sid­er­a­tions through thought­ful design and care­ful use of resources.

The exist­ing entry door, locat­ed with­in com­mon prop­er­ty, pass­es through a new full-height stor­age wall. Con­struct­ed from hoop pine ply­wood, this ele­ment com­bines an entry cup­board, kitchen, and over­head stor­age into a sin­gle con­tin­u­ous piece of join­ery. Upon entry, a stair to the mez­za­nine bed­room and bath­room sits to the right, a dress­ing and study alcove lies direct­ly ahead, and an open-plan kitchen, din­ing and liv­ing space unfolds to the left.

The apart­men­t’s 3.5‑metre ceil­ing is a reminder of the build­ing’s indus­tri­al ori­gins. With­in this vol­ume, a cus­tom-designed alu­mini­um-chan­nel LED uplight wash­es the ceil­ing, enhanc­ing the sense of height and draw­ing vis­i­tors into the liv­ing space.

The liv­ing room itself is defined by its orig­i­nal exposed brick walls and con­crete sof­fit. Pre­vi­ous dec­o­ra­tive ele­ments, includ­ing faux tim­ber beams and redun­dant kitchen light­ing, were removed to reveal the build­ing’s essen­tial struc­ture. The ren­o­va­tion cel­e­brates these exist­ing mate­ri­als, retain­ing the orig­i­nal brick­work, con­crete ceil­ing and expressed struc­ture wher­ev­er pos­si­ble. A new engi­neered tim­ber floor has been laid over the exist­ing con­crete slab, pro­vid­ing warmth while pre­serv­ing the char­ac­ter of the space.

The kitchen join­ery is con­ceived as a care­ful­ly craft­ed piece of fur­ni­ture: a floor-to-ceil­ing, wall-to-wall ply­wood instal­la­tion that forms the heart of the apart­ment. A mir­rored splash­back expands the per­ceived dimen­sions of the room, while the stain­less-steel bench­top and inte­grat­ed sink respond to the needs of the own­er, a young chef for whom cook­ing, enter­tain­ing and shar­ing meals are cen­tral aspects of dai­ly life.

The kitchen, din­ing and liv­ing areas are inten­tion­al­ly con­ceived as a sin­gle flex­i­ble space with­out rigid def­i­n­i­tion. Fur­ni­ture estab­lish­es zones of occu­pa­tion while allow­ing the apart­ment to adapt to chang­ing needs over time. Orig­i­nal win­dows have been retained, while shut­ters were removed to max­imise nat­ur­al light and openness.

A new ply­wood mez­za­nine struc­ture intro­duces an addi­tion­al lay­er of occu­pa­tion with­in the exist­ing vol­ume. The plat­form incor­po­rates a bed above and, below, a study desk, dress­ing area, stor­age and hang­ing space. Shelv­ing inte­grat­ed into the out­er face of the struc­ture serves the liv­ing room. The mez­za­nine was cus­tom fab­ri­cat­ed off-site and assem­bled with­in the apart­ment, an effi­cient con­struc­tion method that min­imised disruption.

Despite the lim­it­ed dimen­sions, the space beneath the plat­form pro­vides an inti­mate yet ergonom­ic envi­ron­ment for study and dress­ing. The mez­za­nine bed­room above offers a height­ened and seclud­ed retreat, with views across the liv­ing space below. The ver­ti­cal arrange­ment trans­forms the apart­men­t’s mod­est foot­print into a far more gen­er­ous and var­ied liv­ing environment.

At its core, the project is about doing more with less. Through care­ful plan­ning, eco­nom­i­cal use of mate­ri­als and pre­cise design, the ren­o­va­tion deliv­ers a rich and adapt­able liv­ing envi­ron­ment while being com­plet­ed with­in a bud­get of $100,000

Pub­li­ca­tions:

• Syd­ney Morn­ing Her­ald https://​www​.smh​.com​.au/​n​a​tiona…
• Nev­er Too Small 

Project details

• Loca­tion
  Dar­linghurst, NSW
• Builder
  Éire Join­ery
• Pho­tog­ra­phy
  Willem Reth­meier