00:03This building was constructed in 1971, which is within the post-war era.
00:11The primary inspiration of the apartment was the featurism elements of post-war architecture,
00:19which includes things like timber panelling, mosaic tiles and terrazzo floors.
00:29The materiality was selected to complement the internal courtyard garden,
00:36also to bring in some traditional modernist architecture design features.
00:43My name is Alex Antoniades, I'm an urban planner, lover of post-war architecture and owner-occupier of this apartment.
00:59This apartment building is located in Brunswick, Melbourne, on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people.
01:08Cafes are a big part of Brunswick, also the bars and shops.
01:15I grew up in Brunswick, so it's sort of a full circle moment being back in the area and purchasing
01:20my apartment.
01:24The apartment was very ordinary when I purchased it.
01:27There was vinyl flooring in the bathroom and kitchen, and the rest of the apartment was carpeted.
01:32Most of the original floor plan is intact, except for the living and kitchen space,
01:37where the internal wall was removed to provide an open living plan.
01:41By removing the wall, it enabled natural light to improve in the apartment,
01:46as well as providing a space to eat or to use as an office area with the pop-out table.
01:58The first thing that you see when you walk into the apartment is a view of the living space in
02:03the kitchen,
02:04and to the right you see the balcony, which overlooks the internal courtyard.
02:10The living space comprises a three-seated couch with a chaise.
02:15I wanted it to have a separation of space, but also be used as a conversational kind of element.
02:22The intention of using the timber feature wall was to provide a nice contrast between the TV unit and the
02:29popcorn ceiling,
02:30and it provides a nice frame of the space.
02:35I selected the TV unit to be wall hung to provide a bit more negative space underneath,
02:41and this also complements the couch.
02:43Also, it's easy to vacuum.
02:46The balcony is a really nice space because it has direct sunlight in the afternoon.
02:53The original balcony balustrade is burgundy,
02:56and this was retained to give a little bit of contrast between the outlook of the greenery and the internal
03:02tonal colours.
03:04The balcony floor was previously concreted,
03:07so I decided to tile the balcony with rectangular burgundy tiles to tie it back into the balustrade,
03:15which is a more neutral tone of burgundy.
03:19There is a buffet which used to be used as a dining space.
03:23Above the buffet is a mirror which matches the window trims of the apartment.
03:29Originally, the kitchen was separated by a brick wall.
03:32The wall was removed and the steel powder coated beam was installed,
03:38and this enabled the space to be completely opened up.
03:41To maximise the kitchen space,
03:43the pantry is centrally located beneath the beam which runs through it.
03:50The custom kitchen is clad in timber birch plywood,
03:54which provides a natural feel to the apartment.
03:56It includes an integrated fridge,
03:58one drawer dishwasher,
04:00washing machine which is concealed,
04:02pop-out table which is retractable,
04:05and lots of storage capacity for things.
04:07The splash back has been tiled around the window frame
04:10and extends to the top of the ceiling,
04:12so the ceilings appear higher.
04:17My favourite part of the kitchen is my design of the kitchen dining space,
04:22which retracts in and out of the cupboard space.
04:25It was important that this space was flexible
04:28to enable the kitchen to be used for other purposes.
04:32Depending on if it's just me having dinner by myself
04:35versus having some friends over,
04:37the whole dynamic of the apartment changes.
04:42When the table is not in use,
04:45the dining chairs slot under the bench which is located on the balcony.
04:51The entry to the bedroom includes a three-panelled fluted steel glass door.
04:56The fluted glass door provides privacy as well as natural light to be filtered into the other rooms of the
05:03apartment.
05:04The bedroom is quite large,
05:06so it contains a desk which is used for working from home,
05:10which has an outlook to the internal courtyard.
05:15I previously owned the queen-size koala bed and really liked it.
05:19However, the base was too wide.
05:21I cut the base of the bed either side equally to ensure that the door could close properly.
05:28There is a full-size wall-to-wall wardrobe which has sliding doors.
05:32This contains hanging space for clothing as well as drawers and an overhead storage compartment.
05:40The timber cladding around the nib wall to the entry of the bathroom is the same as the feature wall
05:46in the living space.
05:50The bathroom has the same door as the bedroom space for the same purposes provides natural light and privacy.
05:57The shower screen is also constructed in the same fluted glass to provide continuity in the apartment.
06:06I decided to choose the sage green tiles because it provided a nice colour element to the apartment.
06:13The tiling from floor to ceiling was intentionally used to make the ceilings appear higher.
06:21There is a floating vanity unit which contains drawers and storage.
06:25Above there is three panels of glass mirror which also has integrated storage behind.
06:31The flooring throughout the whole apartment is locally sourced terrazzo grey tiles.
06:36This provides a seamless design and makes the apartment feel larger.
06:42And I decided to keep the original popcorn ceiling to pay homage to the original design.
06:50The selection of track lighting was used to provide flexibility and also there is a feature for the lighting to
06:57change colours at night which provides a nice mood and setting.
07:02The good thing about this apartment is the easy accessibility to the storage unit which is located next to the
07:09front door.
07:09It's a good place to store items which aren't used often like suitcases, brooms, mops, etc.
07:17In Australia we have a tendency to demolish rather than adapt old buildings.
07:22So as an urban planner I do see the benefits of these older complexes because of the structural integrity side
07:30of things that they present.
07:32The importance of reusing and adapting compared to demolishing buildings is really important because this presents an opportunity to utilise
07:42what we already have in a more flexible and well considered way.
07:45By the way!
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