Multi-residential living in Australia has typically been regarded with some reticence, given material success has historically been measured by the quarter-acre. But with mounting economical and environmental pressures and shifting social factors, that association is starting to change.
With mounting impacts of urban sprawl, land prices and housing affordability, designers are having to rethink apartment design to better cater to a broad range of users, from downsizers to young families. Through considered amenity, intelligent spatial design, biophilic connections and bespoke details, many multi-residential dwellings are now achieving the spirit of a standalone home, with the added benefits of inbuilt community, security, and sustainability.
High-density housing still shoulders the association of uniformity, rigidity and lack of individual expression. In the face of constraints such as limited space and shared amenity, it’s the interiors that create the canvas for personal identity and authenticity. Woods Bagot’s interior design is free from a signature style, propelled instead by a sense of empathy and a sensitivity to the values of the end user. Our multi-residential interior design leaders share how by returning to the principles of good design, practices are achieving responsive, sustainable, and characterful dwellings in high-density contexts, rivalling the resolution and identity of a standalone home.
“Our goals as interior designers is to create a canvas for living,” says Woods Bagot senior associate Marcia Ascencio. “That means ensuring a space is not devoid of personality while exercising enough restraint that residents can bring their own identity to it.”
“More than a particular aesthetic, we strive to achieve a feeling,” Ascencio continues. “Maybe it’s a sense of calm or a gesture of warmth, achieved by natural materials and light. Often, we’ll incorporate a minimalist base with expressive accents that anchor the space.
“For example, for Ripponlea Terrace in Elsternwick Gardens, we use a gentle palette of mid-toned timber, hand-sanded stainless steel surfaces, and rarefied natural stone, tied together with a captivating solid glass wall light by Volker Haug. All these elements create a seamless base for residents to overlay with their own tastes and styles.
“For the interior concept, we took an ‘inside out’ approach, bringing influences of the natural local surroundings into the scheme of the residences,” Ascencio continues. “The interiors provide a composed, polished base, inspired by the sites natural conditions. The space provides an elevated canvas for refined materiality and spatial planning that maximises framed views to the gardens, celebrating the landscape and crafting a greater connection with place.”
Read more on Elsternwick Gardens.
Elsternwick Gardens. Photo: Gavin Green
“As humans, we form habits and routines within our home, workplace, and everywhere in-between, creating everyday experience and rituals,” says Woods Bagot Associate Tahlia Ladrigan. “When thinking about what occupies those spaces, how much are objects the main character and what facilitates the experience of our everyday?
“We understand the function of a space by the arrangement of objects within it, as they hold language in their form and appearance. Objects rely on one another to form habits, like a chair to a table. These arrangements dictate our everyday habits and routines.
“Through my design practice, I have the opportunity to imagine and investigate the specific activities or uses we aim to create in a space, and accordingly, what the joinery and furniture needs to prompt for an interaction to take place. A bespoke key drop station, for example, that gestures a welcome home, or a hall mirror that prompts a customary preen before leaving the house.
“Subtle forms like the curvature of a handle or the way a surface might cantilever out at a particular height to form a surface for display or work are all intentional decisions created for a specific and bespoke environment or use. This is the importance and benefit of bespoke joinery and furniture design within the design process.”
Read more on Emerald Place in South Melbourne.
Emerald Place
“The muti residential landscape has traditionally provided housing options for renters, with a focus on quantity, short-term living and high turnover, so durability and density were key,” says Woods Bagot associate Cara Gabriel. “Now, we’re seeing a shift to owner-occupiers, and the demand is for higher quality, larger sizes, access to daylight and great, functional outdoor spaces.
“A benefit of single dwelling homes is the ease of connection to the outdoors, windows on multiple sides and often more than one outdoor space can take advantage of changing light throughout the day. Corner apartments with wrapping terraces are a great way to incorporate this concept, so the spaces benefit from natural light across the day, not limited to one façade of daylight, and outdoor activity can move to either retreat from or chase the sun, depending on the season.
“It’s about making places work smarter, making them more flexible and catering to a wider demographic,” Gabriel continues. “I feel that the industry is lacking really great multi-residential options for families. Addressing this could be as simple as additional storage spaces, space for pram parking near the entry, an enclosed laundry room near the kids’ bedrooms, ease of journey from car park or bike park to front door, safe and secure outdoor play space.”
Read more about Scotch Hill Gardens in Hawthorn.
Scotch Hill Gardens
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