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
-
We savour the new Aston Martin Vantage Roadster on twisting Austrian roadsAston Martin launched its newest convertible, the Vantage Roadster, in the Austrian mountains, offering the chance to drive for driving’s sake and nothing more
-
SMAC Venice hosts a substantial show about celebrated Australian modernist Harry SeidlerA comprehensive overview of the life and work of the late architect Harry Seidler helped inaugurate Venice’s new SMAC gallery in Piazza San Marco
-
Sex, scent and celebrity: what perfume ads of the 2000s reveal about consumer culture todayIn All-American Ads of the 2000s, the latest instalment of Taschen’s book series chronicling print advertising across ten decades, a section on perfume is a striking precursor for consumerism in the age of social media
-
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
-
Join our world tour of contemporary homes across five continentsWe take a world tour of contemporary homes, exploring case studies of how we live; we make five stops across five continents
-
Who wouldn't want to live in this 'treehouse' in Byron Bay?A 1980s ‘treehouse’, on the edge of a national park in Byron Bay, is powered by the sun, architectural provenance and a sense of community
-
A modernist Melbourne house gets a contemporary makeoverSilhouette House, a modernist Melbourne house, gets a contemporary makeover by architects Powell & Glenn
-
A suburban house is expanded into two striking interconnected dwellingsJustin Mallia’s suburban house, a residential puzzle box in Melbourne’s Clifton Hill, interlocks old and new to enhance light, space and efficiency
-
Palm Beach Tree House overhauls a cottage in Sydney’s Northern Beaches into a treetop retreatSet above the surf, Palm Beach Tree House by Richard Coles Architecture sits in a desirable Northern Beaches suburb, creating a refined home in verdant surroundings
