When the director of Australian architecture practice LAVA, Chris Bosse, acquired a new Sydney townhouse in desperate need of a renovation, he decided to personally tackle the challenge of transforming it into his new home.
The property, named Tivoli Terrace and located within Paddington, a historic inner city district of Sydney, is coined by Bosse as a ‘21st century reinterpretation of a 1880s terrace house’. Bosse’s aim was to merge the house's existing structural features with the firm’s signature clean and contemporary style, in order to create his personal vision of a modern but effortlessly timeless living space.
Bosse used a calming tonal range of neutral colours and natural wood that delightfully contrasts with his selection of furnishings, which feature sporadic and vibrant pops of colour. Pale French oak timber floors were carefully laid out over the original wood flooring and old terracotta tiles to add a sense of unity and flow throughout the open plan dining, living, and kitchen areas on the ground level.
A large opening on the ground floor, protected by a sliding system of slatted timber frames creates, when open, a seamless transition between outdoor and indoor environments. It also supplies the house with a generous amount of light and gives the inhabitants complete control of privacy, heat and airflow.
The kitchen, which Bosse envisioned as the ‘heart of the property’ features a glass splashback lining to reflect light and a striking custom-made CNC milled ‘surfboard shaped’ island bench - its flowing, curvy form brings to mind the firm's other, larger scale designs.
Bosse incorporated local craftsmanship with high tech manufacturing methods to create the property’s warm but minimal and unmistakably contemporary atmosphere, a symbiosis of old and new that anyone would be happy to call home.
Bosse’s home features a considered combination of classic joinery and modern manufacturing techniques. Pictured here; a custom-made white laminated solid plywood kitchen and pale French oak timber floors
Each room of the house features a series of floor to ceiling in-built cabinets, adding a generous amount of concealed storage space throughout the property
The pale French oak floors cover the house’s existing flooring and tiles; the addition of uniform flooring adds a sense of flow and unity within the dining, living and kitchen areas
All the rooms in the property feature accents of natural wood and use only neutral colour tones to create a warm and serene environment
The kitchen-adjacent courtyard is used as a central feature, seamlessly adjoined to the interior of the house by the large sliding timber slatted doors
These sliding doors were added to blur the boundary between outdoor and indoor living space, enabling the inhabitants to have careful control over privacy, heat and airflow
The key element of the kitchen - and Bosse’s favourite feature of the home - is the custom-built CNC milled ‘surfboard shaped’ kitchen bar
Flashes of colourful in strategically placed furniture throughout the property contrast with the structure's minimal colour palette, adding an element of vibrancy to the space
INFORMATION
For more information visit LAVA’s website
Photography: Brett Boardman
-
How C Prinz shaped the gothic new world of Charli XCXMulti-hyphenate director and movement artist C Prinz unpacks the physical, instinctive and often brutal creative process behind Charli XCX’s new 'Wuthering Heights' era
-
Get the glow: the best luminescent watchesIs luminescence the next artistic edge in watchmaking? Here’s how brands from MB&F to Schofield, IWC, Bamford and Bell & Ross are developing exciting, glowing watches
-
Fall back in love with the mountains at this sculptural retreat in the DolomitesIn South Tyrol, the refreshed Forestis hotel raises the bar for high-altitude calm
-
Neometro is the Australian developer creating homes its founders ‘would be happy living in’The company has spent 40 years challenging industry norms, building design-focused apartment buildings and townhouses; a new book shares its stories and lessons learned
-
The Melbourne studio rewilding cities through digital-driven landscape design‘There's a lack of control that we welcome as designers,’ say Melbourne-based landscape architects Emergent Studios
-
A Republic Tower apartment refresh breathes new life to a Melbourne classicLocal studio Multiplicity's refresh signals a new turn for an iconic Melbourne landmark
-
A Japanese maple adds quaint charm to a crisp, white house in SydneyBellevue Hill, a white house by Mathieson Architects, is a calm retreat layered with minimalism and sophistication
-
A redesigned warehouse complex taps into nostalgia in QueenslandA warehouse in Queensland has been transformed from neglected industrial sheds to a vibrant community hub by architect Jared Webb, drawing on the typology's nostalgic feel
-
Australian bathhouse ‘About Time’ bridges softness and brutalism‘About Time’, an Australian bathhouse designed by Goss Studio, balances brutalist architecture and the softness of natural patina in a Japanese-inspired wellness hub
-
The humble glass block shines brightly again in this Melbourne apartment buildingThanks to its striking glass block panels, Splinter Society’s Newburgh Light House in Melbourne turns into a beacon of light at night
-
A contemporary retreat hiding in plain sight in SydneyThis contemporary retreat is set behind an unassuming neo-Georgian façade in the heart of Sydney’s Woollahra Village; a serene home designed by Australian practice Tobias Partners
