Apartment 302

In 2020, the Melbourne CBD apartment construction frenzy continues unabated. Alongside curtain wall towers, a less attention grabbing, but no less significant phase is emerging, marking a maturation of the city living cycle.

First wave adaptive reuse buildings that marked the genesis of this process are now seeing their apartments further regenerated to reflect changing life patterns.

One such building is Sargood House, formerly a textile manufacturing warehouse for Sargood and Gardiner.

It was built in 1926, then converted into apartments in 1998.

Stripping back the space, the elemental industrial expression of the shell provided a visible template within which living spaces flow within the orthodoxy of the apartment’s singular light and view vantage.

Finding warmth amid cool materials, a once unappointed space feels structured by liveability, with a clear focus on shared experience, whether that be eating, cooking, or simply being together all at once.

The muted palette and deliberate under-lighting selected by Shelley Roberts Architects amplify the spatial dimension of the large open areas and allow the occupants to take centre stage.

Deliberately, there was a lack of strong colour except for the black steel shelves of the bookcases together with their black back panels, designed to make the books appear to float.

Colour was to be provided later through the clients’ clothes, books, art, objects, and furniture.

After living overseas for 16 years, Shelley Roberts Architects’ clients were looking forward to coming home.

Their brief called for a calming and relaxed environment, a place to house their extensive book, record, and film collection with plenty of storage.

Equally important was a kitchen suitable for an avid cook and entertainer replete with a separate butler’s pantry.

With apartment 302, it is equally what you see and what you don’t.

To create the ultra-clean finish, much of the functioning aspects of this apartment are invisible.

Heating, cooling, exhaust systems, water, and electrical services are all concealed beneath a computer floor, utilizing commercial construction methodology in a residential application.

Integrated appliances come into their own whilst sliding panels reveal a butler’s pantry and entertainment area.

Seemingly innocent plaster walls conceal invisible in-wall speakers whilst maintaining a uniform seamless aesthetic.

Some of the challenges Shelley Roberts Architects faced during the project included, providing above code acoustic requirements as demanded by the Owners Corporation, bringing services to where they were required, and boosting some exhaust systems.

There was neither natural nor mechanical ventilation to bedrooms two and three.

The intent of Shelley Roberts Architects’ initial sketch design remained throughout the design process, only changing to reconfigure the storage and service areas of the kitchen.

The clients, who only saw the project twice throughout the construction stage, cried when they walked into their completed home which Shelley Roberts Architects interpreted as a good thing.

Project Details

Project size – 230 m2
Site area – 230 m2
Completion date – 2020
Building levels – 1

Project Team

Architecture

Shelley Roberts Architects

Shelley Roberts Architects is a boutique architectural firm, specializing in apartment renovations. Working at the intersection of architecture and interior design, SRA redefine and re-fashion inner urban spaces to create beautiful, functional homes.

www.shelleyroberts.com.au

Photography

John Gollings

John has been the photographer of choice, the go-to guy for many Australian architects.

He is renowned for his ability to almost always compose the best shot, the one defining image that makes a building memorable, etches it into the psyche.

www.gollings.com.au