Portal, Manly

The complete internal renovation to a ground floor apartment in an art-deco apartment building in Manly, Sydney.

Description

Internal structural works allowed for the opening and reorienting of the kitchen to the dining and the living spaces. With its reorientation, the kitchen becomes a clear part of the apartments order, where a continuous storage wall runs the length of the apartment including the open plan kitchen, dining and living — providing delineation between circulation and spaces.

A custom peg-board marks the entryway and beginning of the storage wall, with shelves and custom hooks for surfboards, skateboards, coats and hats.

The storage wall continues through a plywood ‘portal’, with concealed full-height cupboards for shoes and sandals.

The transition from the entryway and front bedrooms through the portal creates a strong sense of arrival into the convivial and entertaining spaces. A retained brick pier — to allow for the structural opening of the kitchen — forms an anchor to the space, where a suspended plywood shelf defines the separation between dining and living without losing visual connection.

A box room is transformed into a light filled study nook through the removal of the doorway and new joinery. The library shelving extends from the nook to the living spaces.

Colour and contrast has been playfully added throughout the apartment to emphasise the high level sliding joinery fronts, the bathtub and architectural details.

Credit

Architect : @AdrianoPupilliArchitects

Photographer : @SimonWhitbread

Builder : @ImmaculateConstructions

Role

This project was completed during my time at Adriano Pupilli Architects.

The project was adopted from the complying development certification onward, where the role included construction documentation and administration of the contract while the project was under construction.