THE LIGHTNING-SPEED PURCHASE of a warehouse in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has allowed architect Kyra Thomas to create a modern family home that aligns with her design approach, desire for sustainability and Danish heritage.
On the advice of a great friend and mentor, we went to check out a self-storage warehouse for sale in Queens Park and bought it by the end of the day! My husband Julian and I had found an unusual site where To create a home that was open, light and expansive, within the walls of the dark and enclosed existing warehouse, the design is centred on the creation of four outdoor courtyards. These courtyards are paramount to the design’s success as they allow each of the internal spaces to connect with light, air and landscaping. They open the completely constrained site, allow for outlook, private open space and for visual connectivity between internal spaces which, for a family with small children, was key to the brief and design. The landscape architect, Christopher Owen, layered climbing plants, different leaf textures and a multitude of plant scales, including two mature trees, to give the outdoor spaces a great sense of depth. The walled house is private and protected from the noise, pace and visual stimulation of everyday life. When you arrive home, you immediately feel grounded, calm and quiet. The interior sets this tone with a restrained and neutral material palette of natural finishes which is completely timeless. The limited palette – including oak, Italian limestone and linen – is repeated throughout the house. The use of natural materials provides a depth and warmth to the minimal spaces and celebrates the subtleties of natural texture and colour. The different orientations of the courtyards and skylights create a variety of light directionality. During the day it is a total joy to experience the intensity and direction of light shifting through the spaces and it connects us to the time of day and the season. At night, intense moon shadows are cast around the house and we can navigate around with no lighting. It is very special. Being completely contained by the existing warehouse walls, we worked hard to establish a generous and open home to celebrate all the space that we had to work with. The combination of the open courtyards and full-height and (most often) full-width glazing allows views through the site and vast panoramas of the sky, neighbouring trees and landscaping. The design is less about the delineation of separate rooms but rather the creation of a series of spaces that interconnect. Full-height internal pivot doors enable zones of the house to be closed off from one another when required. Julian and I selected the DK3 ‘Tree’ dining table when we were in Copenhagen on our honeymoon. We adore the integrity of the design and that we were able to select the specific tree planks. It is part of the story of our lives. With the Hans Wegner ‘Wishbone’ chairs, the table grounds the house and is the perfect gathering point for the whole family. My mother’s family is Danish, and I relate very much to my Scandinavian heritage and to Danish design, so these elements are particularly special for us. True to my minimalist intentions for the house, we have carefully curated the furniture and art selection in the home, celebrating quality over quantity. We adore this home. It has been such a privilege at this stage of my career to build my own home and design it for the way that we want to live. Our builder, BAU Group Construction, worked tirelessly to respect and achieve the design with enormous attention to detail. The house is a study of quiet simplicity, tactility and honesty of materials, and the rigorous resolution of minimal design principles. It elevates our everyday life, celebrates my aesthetic and is a complete joy for my family.
