Australian Home Blends Old with New Style
The Kindred House, designed in the 1960s, has been renovated by Urban Habitats. According to the firm’s design manager, Sarah Stephen, the goal was to recover the spatial intent of the house.
Urban Habitats chose to consider the old and new holistically, rather than protecting or undoing the original design.
The layout of the house is now organized around a central courtyard, which brings a new openness to the house. The spaces are oriented towards natural light and dedicated garden areas, creating a sense of continuity.
Sarah Stephen explains that the courtyard allows the house to be experienced as a continuous coil, where movement is fluid, and dialogue between different functions is encouraged. This design helps to create a sense of cohesion.
The kitchen was also shifted back to its original position, re-establishing a sense of cohesion and making it the center of daily life. This decision helped to reinforce the home’s original logic.
The decisions around the layout were made with a focus on clarity, rather than change for change’s sake. Urban Habitats retained elements that supported the home’s original logic, refined those that could be reshaped, and removed anything that disrupted the flow.
This approach resulted in a harmonious blend of old and new. The design is defined by calibration, where each decision reinforces the coherence of the whole and returns a sense of ease to the home.
Materially, the interior draws from its mid-century sensibility, with a heritage evident from its parquet floor. Timber is deployed with careful restraint, layering warmth and texture, while color is often used as a spatial tool, defining zones.
The interiors needed to support both activity and retreat, with moments that hold the clients’ pieces within the broader composition. Artwork, furniture, and objects are displayed on custom-made joinery and framed within the home’s sight lines.
The chosen pieces encourage pause and reflection. The result is neither old nor new, but revived, with a quiet alignment between life and architecture.
