I like old houses because I think if they survive that long they've
been liked and loved by other people you get beautiful details you get beautiful
craftsmanships you get beautiful design this is important for the
architect to understand and work with it and amplify what the original architect had done
Hello, I'm Luigi Rosselli and I'm here in the Northern suburbs of
Sydney in this wonderful house we just completed.
It's a suburb which is purged over Sydney Harbor pretty old
suburb with a very ancient houses built during the turn of a century
the reason why we call this, this house family heritage, is heritage has got a pretty bad name
in the sense that people think if you have a heritage house you have a house which is
very difficult for a modern family to live in, old, dark, it has too many restrictions
and I thought that to give life to this house we had to defeat all these preconceptions.
These clients wanted a very simple brief which is you know common in
a lot of families, a space for the adults.
Another area for the family to gather together around an open plan living space.
Some area where it's a bit more reflective, more tranquil.
This house you enter through the front veranda and you arrive into a small atrium which face
a new stair, the stair used to be very steep and hidden so we opened it up I also gave some very
very gentle little curve to soften it you pass through the stairs and there's a hallway which
is we call the hallways with the arches and they divide the whole way from the television room
and the study, it's a very dark protected room which is ideal for concentration,
working, studying, reading, it is basically a room for reflection.
Once you pass through the hallway you arrive into the main living space which
is an open plan they relax room which is completely open to the backyard with
very large ultra tall steel windows, in summer you can open it completely
and the floor flows throughout, it is a room which can expand itself.
On the left you have the kitchen, the pantry and a kitchen island where you can sit at like me now,
and then you have a dining area and the living space, with a fireplace which is going to focus
at the opposite end of the room but it's not centered, it leaves space for artwork.
And then you go upstairs and you have all the bedrooms, two kids bedrooms,
a guest bedroom and a master bedroom, the main bedrooms has been chosen by the parents in the
best spot of a house obviously and it feels a bit like an hotel room because it's a quite vast,
it's quite well arranged and and thought through in all details, look at the back and you have this
wonderful large windows and the dancing shutters, the dancing shuttle there traditional shutters,
timber shutters which open and shut all together in synchrony like beautiful ballet.
The kids bedrooms, each one has got his own character the kids feel very at ease in that
place and they're fortunate because they've got the beautiful front veranda to go out,
play the guitar, have a good contact with front garden which is kind of
a lush and beautiful garden in a very private with lots of trees.
A little lobby into the landing which is formed with the original doors that reuse
them as linen cupboards, the stair from the first floor goes up an extra level
and winds up to the viewing room which is at the top.
We have a long-standing relationship with Luigi and we work collaboratively that appears to have
been completed by one set of hands, my name is Alice Benn I'm an Associate Interior Designer
at Alwill Interiors we've created a fresh and modern interior primarily with the use
of a white calm base we built upon that with the pink tones, the blue tones, the tobacco tones.
The home accommodates for a busy family by delineating the spaces, by creating a room
at the front of the house that was more for family living, after schoo,l TV watching,
we did that by using more durable fabrics to handle that kind of daily wear and tear.
Marble is like an artwork in itself each slab is different
and provokes different emotions and feelings.
In the kitchen we selected a marble called Calacatta Max it's got a fresh
base with these beautiful caramel overtones which worked really beautifully with the
timber that we selected for the weaving pattern on the front of the island bench.
My favourite part of the house is this living room,
the curves and the shapes of the furniture we were challenged by on plan but have been
really proud to see how they've come together and they occupy this space.
We see it as a showpiece home that can really pivot between
being a showpiece and being a family home.
Most difficult aspect was to build a new garage in this Northern Sydney suburbs,
council basically doesn't like any garage at the front of the property, having been able to
hide it under a landscaped berm designed by William Dangar was very conducive.
People can walk on top of this garage roof go around this hill and you'll
find the front door it was a good way of disguising it without having this terrible
double car garage doors facing you and obliterating the frontage of a house.
William Dangar has been able to you know with a little space that we had create,
an excellent compact but very effective tropical garden,
the palm next to the chimney where the fireplace of the living room is I have
this kind of victory sign which is in line with the architecture of the window behind it.
To work with a heritage listed house you have to
have one particular attitude and it is to love and to like that house.