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Residence R is situated in Northbridge on a beautiful private inlet.
It's a waterfront residence with beautiful sparkling views across the bay.
I am Nina Maya and I was the lead interior designer for Residence R. The historical
significance of the property is that it was the private residence of Bob Hawke, Bob and Blanche,
so we wanted to be respectful of that heritage and we did maintain the structure the bones of
the building itself was very good, but it was a complete strip out and refurbishment internally,
with a focus of bringing the light and the landscape into the home.
The home was designed for our lovely clients, a couple with a teenage son.
They love entertaining, they love being by the water and they're very fun individuals,
so we wanted it to be a very fun home that they could share with their family and friends,
low maintenance. We've done all the hard work in the design, they can just move in and enjoy it.
The first thing you'll notice is the staircase, one of the biggest features of the home.
It is full of light, there's a double-story void. It's quite spectacular during the day
and at night, it has a soft glow permeating through the house.
The overall aesthetic of the project is refined and minimal design, but not in any way or steer.
We've used beautiful plush soft furnishings to bring a sense of warmth and plushness and luxury
and it has a relaxed coastal vibe, but in a very contemporary interpretation.
The position of the home and its location as a waterfront resident
certainly influenced our design. We wanted to make sure the focus was first and foremost on the
beautiful views from every level. We installed floor to ceiling glazing across every front,
meaning that during the day the whole house is flooded by beautiful, natural light.
I think lighting is one of the most important tools that an interior designer has to utilise,
it really affects the mood of how someone enjoys the space. We like to create a different mood for
each area and we're always a fan of soft light coming from multiple sources rather than strong
light from one source, to really create a layered effect. We used artificial lighting in a very
architectural form. We wanted it to be part of the architecture, part of the interiors, less so
task lighting. You'll find there's not a lot of overhead lighting, we've tried to integrate it to
flush walls and light art and be very specific with how we've used the lighting in the space.
When designing residential interiors for me, form always follows function.
Everything needs to be functional first and foremost and then obviously we can have fun
with the form and be more playful but I personally love clean, minimal design.
The materials used throughout are very refined and neutral so I love working with natural
materials. There's a strong focus on beautiful charred oaks, Aribiscato marble from Italy,
burnished brass, European oak. We love to design in a neutral palette especially
in a location by the water and make sure the view really is the focus of the home.
Internally in the bathrooms and bedrooms, we actually got rid of all the walls
and instead installed these beautiful glass boxes, essentially fluted glass framed in bronze,
which created spaces for showers and WC's and allowed privacy, but kept the room feeling
very open. We custom designed a lot of pieces for this home. We wanted everything to be very
bespoke and tailored and site specific. One example is the beautiful meals table
in the kitchen area. We sourced a stunning slab of Patagonia quartzite from overseas,
had that carved locally and then had these beautiful custom bronze oval bases built for it. I
think it's such a fresh and bright interpretation of a kitchen. There's a beautiful pivot doors
looking out onto the deck and the water beyond. It's just a very calm and serene place to sit.
The thing i'm most proud of with this project is even though it's on such a large scale,
I feel like we've managed to still achieve a sense of intimacy in each individual area.
It was a three-year exercise, I've had a child in that time, so it was challenging
to keep the momentum going but I love this project, I think for the scale, the open
brief that the clients gave us it's just been so rewarding to see it come to life after so long.
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