00:02This apartment belongs to an elderly couple who relocated from the country.
00:08They moved from 250 acres to 38 square metres.
00:18This building is located in Darlinghurst in Sydney
00:21and is a circa 1920s building
00:24and it was a distribution warehouse in its previous life.
00:28In the late 1990s it was adapted for apartment living.
00:34The apartment was actually in very good condition.
00:38It just didn't have the required functionality or utility inherent within it for the needs of my clients.
00:47This is a studio unit.
00:50By demarcating the space and providing a number of zones
00:53we've given each occupant the opportunity for privacy or solitude.
00:59Given the age of my clients it was important that all the spaces were deemed accessible and compliant for a
01:05wheelchair.
01:08My clients Coral and Jim are very well travelled.
01:11They worked overseas.
01:13Coral was a chef and is still a very keen cook.
01:17The kitchen has a lot of integrated functionality both for its appliances but also for storage.
01:27And neatly the kitchen appears to sort of float off the floor to give it a sense of lightness.
01:32The kitchen is very functional with fully integrated appliances like the refrigerator
01:38and the dishwasher.
01:41There's a large pull-out dining table that seats five guests.
01:45When that's put away that enables more space in the living and more circulation space in the kitchen.
01:55The handle details are a cutaway rather than a protruding handle
01:58and this appears en masse throughout the apartment which creates a nice continuity.
02:05The kitchen joinery extends all the way through to a credenza
02:08which lends itself to a seven metre long worktop.
02:11The credenza provides ample storage for all of those things that the clients didn't want to part with.
02:16Photo albums, books and the like.
02:20The clients very much opted to favour storage.
02:24There's a lengthy hallway flanked either side by storage.
02:28On one side is the integrated laundry, a linen cupboard and some miscellaneous storage.
02:35And on the other side is the his and her wardrobe.
02:42The secondary space is primarily a bedroom.
02:46The bedroom is accessed by each occupant from one side only.
02:50So Jim has his own side and Coral has her own side.
02:53And that's because we needed a large enough hallway and a deep enough storage block
02:57that the bed came quite close down to the wall.
03:01The flip down bed sides mean that that can be tucked away when converted to an office space.
03:09Jim is a very keen writer and requested a separate zone.
03:14So we used a large sliding door with frosted panels so that he could have private space to be able
03:21to do the things that he likes to do.
03:23The sliding screen serves three distinct purposes.
03:27One is to bring light into the spaces that it closes off.
03:31The first space that it closes off is the bedroom.
03:34And the second space that it closes off is the hallway which could become a changing room off the bathroom.
03:40We were very fortunate that the bathroom was a large size.
03:44We've maintained the idea of accessibility if that's a requirement in the future.
03:50There's underfloor heating, heated towel rails, integrated lighting and a really, really large shower space
03:56with provision for a shower seat for the future if any of that.
04:00We decided to stop all of the new joinery insertions at 2.2 metres high.
04:07And what this does is lends itself to the feeling of more height.
04:12What we've done in the bathroom is bring the ceiling down to that level
04:15and then make use of all of the space above the bathroom for their storage of wine
04:19and for things that you really need like your luggage.
04:23Given the magnitude of the down size, it was a nice opportunity for them to pick as much of the
04:28fittings and fixtures as possible.
04:30Things like the red sink in the kitchen, the dotted tiles on the bathroom floor
04:33and it was the client's preference for ceiling fans over mechanical air conditioner.
04:38We moved all of the lights off the ceiling so it would be much easier to change the light fixture.
04:43And the fold down seat is great when you're on your way in and out of the unit
04:47and it's nice and close to a pull out shoe drawer.
04:52We designed to ensure that everything was easily accessible.
04:56The bed for instance doesn't need to go away, it can stay down and be a bedroom.
04:59The storage space above the bathroom by the ladder, it's there now but it's not a necessity.
05:07It was really lovely to be able to design for Coral and Jim.
05:10Not only are they thinking very clearly about what they need now,
05:13but they're also thinking about what they're going to need in the future.
05:18This is their 28th place of residence and they're adamant this will be their last place, they're very happy here.
05:25I'm gonna take the water for a moment to be the water.
05:31I wanna try to stay there.
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