Minimalist, Zen family home built from the ground up in Australia ‘the best risk we’ve ever taken’
- Relocating from Hong Kong, Caroline Olah knew she wanted her family dream home to feel Zen, and found a local architect to help execute her design
- The result? A 3,500 sq ft house plus studio in Sydney, Australia, that is as minimal as can be, with only four materials used – concrete, paint, wood and marble
The Olah family’s Australian homecoming in 2018 after four years in Hong Kong – and before that, New York – held much promise.
Reddie, the furniture brand they had established in Hong Kong in 2014, could now be run from Sydney, and Andrew and Caroline Olah had secured a prime piece of real estate in Queens Park, a leafy suburb near Bronte Beach, and only 6km (3.7 miles) from the central business district.
Since Queens Park is a heritage area, the couple asked experts if the original house – although not particularly good-looking – was worth preserving. “Their answer was no: it was a bad 1990s construction,” Caroline Olah says. “That was our opportunity to build a beautiful piece of modern architecture.”
As an interior architect, Olah had form when it came to imagining a dream home for the couple and their children, son Eddie, now nine, and daughter Jay, six. But her experience was in the commercial sector, so she needed a specialist to help execute her design.
Through a friend, the couple met and later engaged local architect Andrew Chapman, whose diverse residential portfolio they admired. He was also au fait with the local planning laws.
“It was hard to find an architect who wanted to work with a client with a design background, but Andrew was the perfect partner,” Olah says, describing their joint effort as “a 50-50 collaboration”.