Tearing down the walls to create flexible 'rooms' has given one Happy Valley resident a tailor-made environment he can feel at home in.
When it comes to interior design, your instinct may not always provide the best solution. Architect Greg Pearce advises putting your original idea on paper, then turning it on its head. 'In this way, you're able to test whether you've really explored the boundaries,' he says.
That was how he designed the 600 sq ft flat in Happy Valley he shares with his partner and two cats. After having 'drawn the first thing that seemed logical', Pearce created a counterintuitive design allowing him to remove every internal wall yet devise discrete areas that maximised living and storage space. 'It's highly tailored to our way of life,' he says.
Streamlined and modern, the compact apartment accommodates everything from a piano to a work desk to a dressing area, in addition to special-use drawers for wine glasses, laundry and a hair-dryer. 'The concept was everything in its place,' says Pearce. 'I'm a bit of a pack rat yet I wanted this minimalist lifestyle. The scheme was to have as much storage space as possible but to make it almost invisible.'
With the help of the design team from One Space, the integrated architecture and technology provider Pearce co-founded in 2004, he spent six weeks designing the flat and three months renovating. The result is an apartment that seems larger than its footprint. 'I played with memory to make it feel bigger,' he says. 'If you come into a 600 sq ft flat and see every wall you immediately register how big it is. But if I draw you through one experience at a time it extends it in your memory. You think, 'Oh, there's the living room; oh, there's the desk; oh, there's the bathroom.' It draws out that mental journey and makes it feel bigger.'
The apparent size of the apartment is also enhanced by the judicious use of materials and custom-made furniture, such as the long, cantilevered bank of drawers opposite the bed. They extend past the bedroom into a play area that houses a feline perch and the piano.