An untra­di­tion­al fam­i­ly home with black details

 

Even though for myself I lately prefer to bring more balance in my home combining softer materials with the industrial and black details, brick walls and industrial steel windows are still a favourite of mine. What really caught my eye in this home was the splash back in the all black kitchen. It is some years I use no more than a lick of black paint in my own kitchen, but I do love the tiny black penny round tiles used in both the kitchen and the bathroom here in this home. 
 
Three Sto­ries North as the project is called, is an untra­di­tion­al fam­i­ly home that embraces its lay­ered his­to­ry. According to the architects, Splinter Society, the design is first and fore­most a process of reduc­tion to allow the char­ac­ter of the orig­i­nal build­ing to be the pri­ma­ry fea­ture. A key com­po­nent of this is to retain and reveal the mason­ry con­struc­tion giv­ing the home an unde­ni­able ware­house feel. Many orig­i­nal details such as arched doors and fire­places are main­tained in work­ing order. Where pos­si­ble the imper­fec­tion of the brick walls are cel­e­brat­ed as an indi­ca­tion of their his­to­ry. At a few points glaz­ing is used to fill gaps in the mason­ry to clear­ly delin­eate what is orig­i­nal and what is new. At the ground lev­el, the orig­i­nal tim­ber ceil­ings are also exposed. 
 



As a bal­ance to the larg­er archi­tec­tur­al spaces, the liv­ing spaces are much more inti­mate, char­ac­terised by sub­tle colours, tex­ture and plush soft fur­nish­ings. Rough sawn tim­ber lines the walls and recy­cled tim­ber cre­ates join­ery adding warmth. Strong black detail­ing in the new areas cre­ate a dis­tinct­ly mod­ern con­trast to the brick­work of the orig­i­nal build­ing while link­ing to the indus­tri­al character. 
Read more about the project at Splinter society 


photography courtesy Sharyn Cairns