Potts Point Apartment / Anthony Gill Architects

Architects: Anthony Gill Architects
Location: Sydney, Australia
Project Team: Anthony Gill and Sarah Mcspadden
Project Year: 2010
Project Area: 38 sqm
Photographs: Peter Bennetts

The Potts Point Apartment involved the re-design of an existing 38 sqm (410sqft), one bedroom apartment in a Harry Seidler building in Sydney. The brief was to adapt the layout as inexpensively as possible to suit our growing family. We wanted to provide a separate sleeping area for our young daughter, increase the living space and solve all our storage issues.

We pulled out all the existing (not original) joinery but left the bathroom core untouched. Into the space we inserted a 7m long joinery item which contains all our things for living – books, toys, food and wine, plates, pots and pans, clothes, even beds. At one end the shelves dissolve into the kitchen and pantry with sections of the main shelving unit being open enabling everyday objects to filter the view through. At the other end the wardrobe block separates our daughters bed from the main living space with our bed sliding in and out from underneath. We wanted a space that enabled all our things to surround us but not in a contrived way, it is not meant to be about display.

The idea is about a rich and layered backdrop for living, something that we all interact with everyday. The materials used are inexpensive. The shelves and kitchen are constructed from form-ply (low grade pre-finished plywood used for concrete formwork) and the wardrobe/bed block is hoop pine plywood with a beeswax finish.