PRAHRAN RESIDENCE

ARCHITECTURE
Woods Marsh

FURNITURE ART & OBJECT
Simone Haag 

PHOTOGRAPHY
Fiona Storey

Designed by Wood Marsh, Sydney Street sits within a collection of residences grounded by craft and inspired by nature. The building’s undulating facade eludes to a sense of visual movement, gentle curves defining residences intuitively carved from negative space to sculpt an irregular grid populated by fluted columns and intermittent gardens. Richly contextual and highly refined, it is an address that mediates between classical and contemporary gestures to land on elegant modernity.

Within this narrative, each residence comprises serpentine spatial arrangements, polished compositions and an overarching dialogue between built and natural elements. Light sabres in via curvaceous expanses of glazing, drawing the eye out to garden terraces and city and park views beyond. Highly crafted joinery is both purposeful and beautiful, curated within a material story of travertine, natural and stained timbers, and book-matched marble and unifying all in one particular residence is a styling language by Simone Haag that elevates the architecture while remaining inherently tethered to it.

Continuing the monochromatic visual story and pared-down luxury of the architecture, furniture, lighting and artwork celebrates the alchemic beauty of the natural world. The soft pinks and pale carob of a custom desk by Dimitri Vargas; the verdigris and ochre striations of an Arkos dining table which are striking against clean white walls and soft window treatments that diffuse natural light; the delicate pleated form of a Steven Haulenbeek resin-bonded sand pendant light reminiscent of the fragile underside of a mushroom or the swaying movement of coral; all these gestures characteristic of the texture and tactile expression of the natural world.

Tempering the artistry of ceramics and stone are furniture pieces that assume clean geometric forms such as a St Germaine sofa and the precise arc of a vintage Panton lounge chair. The notion of balance and modulation is resonant, allowing for the more graphic expressions of wallpaper and artwork to be mollified by muted tones and balanced by continuity. This adherence to the principles of art and design gives styling the bandwidth to become captivatingly characterful without tipping over into eccentricity. In this, Sydney Street is inherently moderne and precisely honed.