Image Credit : All photos by Timothy Kaye
Project Overview
Fenwick Garden Apartment is a fully customised apartment that forms part of the Fenwick development.
The purchaser engaged Simone Haag for furniture, soft furnishing and styling of their new apartment as an added layer to Edition Office architecture, Flack interiors and Eckersley Garden Architecture for landscape. ANGLE managed all of these consultants in a fast-tracked timeframe and delivered the project with COBEN during the peak of COVID lockdowns.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
ANGLE
COBEN
Edition Office
Flack Studio
Eckersley Garden Architecture
Project Brief
The purchaser of this apartment wanted to make a bold and highly personalised statement with the internal area of his apartment and move away from what was being delivered across the rest of the project.
This included fundamental changes such as:
Colour scheme: Not being shy of colour, the purchaser wanted the apartment to reflect the bright, vibrant colours of the mid-century houses in the neighbourhood.
Customised joinery: The incorporation of a vinyl record player and storage into the living room joinery design.
Pool: The main non-negotiable part of the brief was to include a lap pool in the garden so that the purchaser could do his daily rehab/therapy. The purchaser wanted the pool to be directly adjacent to the full-height glass windows in the living room so that the apartment would flow from the living areas onto the pool and then into the vast view.
Project Innovation/Need
The key innovation and related need in this project was the level of customisation.
Literally every single finish in the original design was customised and the purchaser insisted on every single room being different to the next, with no consistency of finishes.
All of the walls changed from white, flat-finished, painted walls and introduced texture and colour throughout the apartment.
As opposed to the oak veneer in other apartments he opted for walnut joinery and richer floorboards.
Each of the wet areas has a different stone finish, being a mixture of Verde Alpi, Cote D’Azur and Twilight colours.
Similarly, each of the bedrooms has a different carpet colour, in rich, bold colours.
Another innovation was the horizon pool that was introduced after the structure had been completed for the overall development and was built directly adjacent to the cliff on top of the basement, requiring considerable architectural and engineering creativity.
Design Challenge
A key design challenge for this apartment was the accommodation and procurement of an extremely large amount of customisation by the purchaser, at a relatively late stage in the design process. This raised a number of issues.
Builder flexibility: The builder was very well organised in advance of construction commencement, letting the project and procuring all of the materials that had significant lead times. However, the sale of the garden apartment occurred late in the marketing campaign and the transaction was contingent on fulfilling the specific customisation brief of the purchaser. This necessitated flexibility on their part and a strong relationship with ANGLE to ensure variations could be efficiently managed.
Overseas supply chains: A number of the finishes weren’t available locally and as such carried more supply and logistics risk. The client was also specific on not wanting substitutions that were available locally and with less lead time. This presented an additional challenge in the context of COVID-related international supply chain disruptions.
Design team: The involvement of multiple interior designers, a separate architect and landscape designer was challenging. This created added layers of difficulty with the responsibility of tasks and delineation of work. Ensuring that the design remained coherent required a lot of work.
Architectural and engineering adaption: Lastly, one of the largest design challenges for the apartment was incorporating the swimming pool, which needed to be designed in a way that maintained an unobstructed view but also complied with all safety regulations.
Sustainability
The apartment adopts a number of important sustainability initiatives, including:
1. High-quality energy-efficient appliances and hardware: The standard inclusion of the highest quality appliances and fittings, including Gaggenau and Brodware, ensure longevity and resource efficiency.
2. Durable architectural materials: The predominant architectural elements of concrete and copper give permanence and longevity to the building, ensuring the sustainability of the development across its full life cycle.
3. Cross-flow natural ventilation: The house has natural cross ventilation from windows on opposite or adjoining facades.
4. Generous outdoor area: Large outdoor terrace designed to facilitate meaningful year-round use of the space and access to fresh air and sunlight, with GPOs and taps provided.
5. Biophilic and heavily landscaped design: The fundamental integration of landscape design and planting into ground floor areas and terraces planters, as well as the architectural concept itself.
6. Rainwater harvesting and reuse: Capture and reuse of rainwater to underground storage, with redirection and reuse by the WC’s of all residences.
7. An overall 6.7 star NatHERS rating.
Interior Design - Residential
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes and aesthetic presentation. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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