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Architects: Allen Jack+Cottier
- Area: 1060 m²
- Year: 2015
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Photographs:Castle+Beatty
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Manufacturers: ShapeShell
Text description provided by the architects. Allen Jack+Cottier’s bold, sculptural conversion of a 1060 sqm two level inner city Sydney warehouse into a private residence cleverly uses yachting technology to create a private sleeping pod. The project is shortlisted for the prestigious World Architecture Festival Awards, announced in October 2015.
This project by Australian firm Allen Jack+Cottier converted an existing two-level warehouse of 1060 sqm. Sections of the building were radically altered to introduce light and spatially connect the two levels, incorporating 4 bedrooms, living space, large commercial quality kitchen, music room, a swimming pool and a terrace.
Allen Jack+Cottier’s client had been searching for an inner city warehouse type building for some time. Unlike many aspiring home owners in Sydney, the client was not obsessed by a house with a view of the harbour or the ocean. Rather, he wanted to create an internal realm, suited to his interests in music, entertaining and visiting friends. Inner City Warehouse started life as a food manufacturing factory in the early 1900s, and was subsequently used as a furniture factory.
The most significant insertion in the warehouse is the sleeping pod or, cave, on the first floor. This is the owner’s private suite that sits as a piece of sculpture in the main living space, its internal volumes billowing between the roof trusses. The alien form to the orthogonal geometry of the old warehouse creates new spaces but does not diminish the sense of space in the warehouse.
The glass reinforced foam structure is self-supporting and stands on the original floor like a piece of furniture albeit a rather large and heavy one. The pod contains a sleeping space, with a large bed integrated into the shell, a day wardrobe/entertainment unit and a bathroom. Its walls/ceiling are all sprayed low VOC white resin, the floor to the sleeping space is of large format leather tiles and the ensuite floor is finished like a yacht deck in certified teak boarding.
The outside of the pod is also finished in white resin, reflecting the changing light of the day and at night floats on an LED illuminated mirror skirt. The surface is used as a screen for projected images to backdrop entertainment events.
