A piece of sculpture to be lived in, this exciting project fronts newly-built Central Park in Sydney’s Chippendale, creating an inspiring residence for an art collector. Behind a façade of sculpted concrete, serene living spaces and monumental halls create a dynamic interplay of spare interiors in which the main decorative element is light.
Approaching from O’Connor St, a patterned steel screen opens to lead the visitor into a generous coved vestibule. From here, the space compresses as a low and narrow corridor, before suddenly opening to a cavernous stair hall lit from concealed roof lights overhead.
This room is a space unique in Australian residential architecture – grand and austere in its size and sparseness, but inviting and exciting as it leads one upwards through the building. As a counterpoint to this dramatic spatial sequence, the living areas leading from the stair hall are informal and intimate. Bedroom suites occupy the first floor, overlooking the public park to the north. The curves and planes of the façade here act as screens to provide privacy and shade for the occupants.
The brief was for Indigo Slam to last 100 years. Materials are selected to wear and endure and fittings to last, with operable elements mechanically rather than digitally operated. These include oversized vertical timber blinds that turn and retract by means of hanging chains and awning windows operated by geared winders. The brass armatures for these moving parts lend finely grained detail to the interior and to the steel, glass and concrete of the building façade.
On the second floor, sitting and dining rooms are divided by screens and overlook the park. A sky-lit kitchen and study look back into the building, creating views across the stair hall. Spaces are large but not ostentatious. Internal finishes are modest and pared-back: floors are brick-paved, walls are set render, fittings are simple.
The concrete facade is alive to the changes wrought by light, shade, sun and cloud, providing the new urban park over the road with a lively backdrop to public life.
Indigo Slam represents a rare opportunity to add a large residence of substantial quality and architectural merit to the diverse neighbourhood of Chippendale, and participate in the reinvigoration in this part of Sydney as a place of architectural and cultural interest.
