Continuing its connection with warmth and carefully designed details of the home's past, Madeleine Blanchfield Architects reactivated an otherwise exhausted home into an open and transitional volume. The balancing between old, new and warmer elements provides a sense of stability within the spaces whilst newly inserted features bring a contemporary relevance. 

Originally build in the 1960s, the home balances light and dark, seeing shards of incoming light framed by the controlled openings of the original home. Enriched with dark timber, these portals offer a glimpse to the outside world. Madeleine Blanchfield Architects combines both a heightening of the everyday together with a nostalgia of the past, fusing the eras of the home into one.

Having lived in the home for many years prior, the owners and their family wanted to retain the structure’s essence but undertake a renovation to ensure the home captured who they were and how they lived now. Avid fans of both art and design, integrating that element into the new informed the foundation of the brief, as well as an increased openness as a key part of the home’s joinery. Whilst retaining original details and forming a connection to the past was key, so too was ensuring the home felt internally integrated and free flowing.

A rich and moody palette shapes the interior; timber and plaster sit in contrast as the base, allowing insertions of expressive stone in both the kitchen and bathroom to feature. Lighting also takes influence from the crafted origins of the home, seeing an ornate approach used in some places to add an element of interest. The curation of furniture, artwork and other decorative elements completes the story of an emotive and reflective residence, allowing its owners to disconnect from the outside world and immerse themselves in their own private escape.