Handcrafted

The conduit was the chairs’ furniture maker, Adam Markowitz, of markowitzdesign, whose heritage craftmanship impressed the owners so much they procured his architecture services to renovate their new double-storey penthouse – within the original 1954 telephone exchange building – alongside (design and documentation) collaborators George Stavrias and Nicole Henderson of Stavrias Architecture.

“The brief was that the refurbishment meet a Paul Smith aesthetic,” Markowitz says. “Considered, mature and minimal displaying an artisan’s understanding of materials, yet with intentional bursts of bright detail.”

Given Markowitz’s experience, he and the design team selected a natural material palette of timbers and stone to provide tactility and warmth, as well as age with grace. The entryway introduces gently fluted floor-to-ceiling timber panelling, with sensor-lit LED strip lighting below an American walnut veneer oak bench and shelving, creating a considered sense of arrival. The original carpeting is replaced by European oak parquetry, punctuated by darker, rich veneers in the joinery.

Beyond, further Tasmanian oak fluted panelling cleverly conceals a powder room, which curves to reveal an open plan kitchen, living and dining space perfectly proportioned and flanked on two sides by walls of glass facing city views.

“There is already a scalloped, circular language in the materiality and once we started to play with this fluted material – which was essentially us wanting to bring in timber panelling but have a texture and depth to it – it introduced that language,” Stavrias says.

The smaller details emerge upon a closer look, where Markowitz sought out local artisans as part of his network in the fine crafts world. In turn, they have responded with a host of highly considered and detailed furniture pieces and elements, which create a special relationship between architect, designer and client.

“As I practice as a furniture maker as well as an architect, I’ve got a lot of close friends in Melbourne’s making world, so there’s a personal connection to the majority of the objects on display in the apartment – and some I made myself,” Markowitz says.

In certain sunlit moments, glinted elements are revealed: unfinished, raw brass elements adding a layer of luxe throughout. The custom brass finger pulls, handles and shelf brackets were designed by Markowitz and custom-made by Savage Design, while some of the other brass pulls were designed by local architects Auhaus Architecture. Markowitz’s workshop colleague, Chris Tomoya James, made the dining table, while another colleague, Bern Chandley, manufactured the “Low Bow” rocker and study nook stool.

Amongst others, one of Markowitz’s own sleek pendants, “Assegai”, is suspended over the island bench, while even the cat bunkers down in a built-in hidey-hole within the living room joinery.

“These objects have a value beyond just monetary; there is a story behind it, or you know the person who made it, which I think is really valuable,” he says.

With body corporate challenges, spaces were shuffled around rather than knocked down, which adds a sense of openness, interconnectedness and better cross flow ventilation. The laundry near the kitchen was cleverly relocated into a dead space upstairs, while the butler’s pantry was removed and replaced with a fold-out pantry and appliance cupboard. Both moves created the opportunity to enlarge the kitchen, which is topped off with a huge natural stone island bench.

Upstairs, the smaller third bedroom was reinstated as a study nook downstairs and merged into a vast main bedroom. Floating timber joinery units add full-height storage, without spoiling the city views and urban gardens spilling from the full-width balcony.

The final quirk is the cavernous main bathroom. Fluted cedar timber panelling changes its scale and materiality by softening and adding warmth to the space, while the freestanding tub creates a retreat feel.

Now with the chairs alongside a rich assemblance of local objects and items, this penthouse befits its building’s heritage perfectly, inspiring a new generation of stories and connections.