Sky Place

The client-centered design journey of a Cantilever project gives time to exploration, listening, and response. What began with a sociable island bench evolved into an interior refresh of a city apartment whose expansive views invited the kind of bold detailing and unifying materiality that adds depth and intimacy to open-plan living.

 

System
Custom K2

Service
Joinery + Interiors

Location
Victoria

Author
Kath Dolan

 

Linda and Richard are veterans of multiple renovations, and the latter has worked in construction and building maintenance for years. So when they moved into an elevated apartment near the iconic MCG with sweeping views across the city and discovered their kitchen benchtop needed replacing, they recognised an opportunity to refine open plan living that didn’t quite work for their family.

 
 
 
 

The couple are keen entertainers, and Richard loves cooking with guests gathered casually around an island bench. Their adult daughter Mia has an intellectual disability, and finds a predictable, structured routine helpful, including for meals. Despite their apartment’s generous proportions, its island bench couldn’t seat more than a few people. Minimal kitchen storage meant too-ing and fro-ing to a rear butler’s pantry for every necessity. And with friends milling around the kitchen before a game of footy at the ‘G, there was nowhere separate for Mia’s meal to be prepared and enjoyed in peace.

 
 
 
 

“We took a long time in working out exactly what we wanted,” Linda recalls. The brief evolved through conversations with Cantilever’s Creative Director Kylie Forbes and Managing Director Travis Dean about how to enhance a generous space with greater definition and functionality. Ultimately it grew to include a custom K2 kitchen, butler’s pantry, bar, fireplace refurbishment, and interiors service incorporating lighting and furniture selection. “It became an adventurous project as we explored new design devices to respond to the apartment’s opportunities,” Kylie says.

 
 
 
 
“Project touchpoints emerge as clients and designers get to know
one another and the site.
The conceptual design stage is explorative and iterative in nature. It does take time to understand what the project is meant to be.
We loved the dynamics of this site, the colourways of the city outlook, and the expanse. But as a shell, the apartment lacked architectural detail.
We saw how a unique, bold design would complement the extraordinary views.”
— Kylie Forbes, Creative Director
 
 
 
 

The seed for this project was the clients’ desire for a more social kitchen zone, and a better balance of needs met through functional design.

Cantilever brought the kitchen island out from under a services bulkhead to better engage with the space. This allowed for the creation of a seating zone for eight around the renovation’s standout feature: a monumental Island of Cipollino Ondulato Rosso stone with powdercoat trim and adjunct table. At 4150 x 1580mm it’s the largest Cantilever has ever made.

 
 
 

“The apartment is large, but the view is larger,” Kylie says with a laugh. Although she and Travis knew the proportions would work in situ, even they were shocked by its size as it took shape. “When we had the template of the island benchtop in the factory, it took up our whole assembly table,” she recalls. “It seemed enormous. But in the context of the apartment, the expansion of the view beyond diminishes the scale of the objects within. So we knew a larger scale could work without overwhelming the space. The width also allowed for full-depth cabinetry on either side, which maximised its storage capacity.  We integrated internal drawers behind doors to imitate a flush panel finish externally and maximise functionality within.”

 
 
 
 

Linda, Richard and their guests are enamoured with the results. “Everyone loves it, and it looks stunning,” Linda says. “It’s such a big apartment, the tiny bench that was there really didn’t do the kitchen justice. Now it’s a standout piece.”

 
 
 
 
 

Linda’s equally delighted with the considered functionality and abundant concealed storage throughout, especially in the main kitchen and butler’s pantry.

“The pantry zone is, in essence, a Butler’s Kitchen designed for entertaining,” Kylie says. “It houses a second fridge, for beverages and platters, and a large benchtop for on-bench appliances and food prep.”  A sink, dishwasher, triple-stack oven, microwave, warming drawer and set-down niche “allows for party magic”, she says. “And the pantry receives the most beautiful light in the morning,” Kylie says, “the whole room feels like the sky.”

 
 
 
 

The kitchen/butler’s combo has totally changed the way the couple prepares and cooks meals and entertains. “Richard’s using the whole kitchen, including the butler’s pantry, a lot more,” Linda says. “Having ovens in there we’re prepping and doing a lot of cooking in there now, and doing a lot of entertaining out in the main area.”

Mia’s loves it too, which makes for more relaxed mealtimes. “If you’ve got a bunch of people here ready to go to the football and 6 o’clock comes and you’re trying to get Mia’s dinner organised, you can happily do that in the butler’s pantry now and no one’s in the way,” Linda says. “Before, it all happened right in front of everybody. Now, it all happens in the butler’s pantry and Mia just sits down at the table and eats away. It’s a lot less stressful.”

 
 
 
 

Colour is often transformative on Cantilever renovations. It’s especially so here. Dark, sumptuous materials in an interior awash with natural light highlights the detailing Kylie and Travis introduced to add depth and intimacy to the open plan. Linda concedes she was initially nervous. “Richard’s got a really good eye for colour so I ran through the colour boards with him and he said, ‘Go for it’,” she says. “I really liked lighter coloured timber. But he said, ‘There’s so much light up here, we can go dark’. I’m glad we did.”

 
 

Repetition of rich, dark colour and bold patterns unites the interior. The pairing of Satinlite Bronze glass with Burnished Copper powdercoat finishes on glass doors in the hall, pantry and bar is particularly striking. “We started in the kitchen and worked through the pantry, embracing the contrast,” Kylie explains.  “From the evolution of the kitchen design, we detailed the bar niche and display shelving, incorporating the natural stone, stained veneer and Burnished Copper powdercoat.  We introduced the Satinlite Bronze glazing, which in turn introduced the design of the hallway door and pantry slider to compliment it. 

 
 
 
 

“The fireplace refinishing emulated its dark tones through the addition of Dekton Trilium cladding on the plinth and base, trimmed with powercoat steel. The selection of Sky Painting as wall and ceiling paint throughout speaks to the light blue and grey tones of the pantry. My hope is always to create spaces that flow harmoniously into each other. I look to material and colour flow to assist the transitions.”

 
 
 
 

The intense patterning and colour of natural stone proved pivotal. “The Cippolino Rosso Ondulato is both a classic stone and a bold selection given the incredible intensity of the pattern and spectrum of colour,” Kylie says. “You could call it a rainbow. Linda loved it. It has both dark brown and cream accents, so we ultimately chose a dark stain veneer. Combined with the deep blue-grey cabinetry fronts, the palette needed the strength of the darker tone to ground it.”

 
 
 
 

The introduction of Ross Gardam lighting helped link the kitchen with bar and adjacent casual dining, and living. “The open plan had a sense of absence, as though it were too large,” says Kylie.

 
 
““I wanted to create intimacy and a relationship between the activity zones. The thought emerged of connecting kitchen, dining and living spaces through a sculptural intersection of lights. We chose Ross’s Nebulae pendant for its rich bronze glass. It’s beautiful, whether switched on or off.””
— Kylie Forbes, Creative Director
 
 
 
 

His Hearth couch rounds out this interior makeover, literally and figuratively. “We chose it for its beautiful form and comfort,” Kylie says. “Warm taupe upholstery compliments the palette and lightens the space. Its semi-circular form scaled to create the living zone and maintain the sensation of intimacy.”

 
 
 
 

Sky Place is a project that captures the opportunity of a site-responsive design approach; working within the framework at hand, allowing an evolution of ideas, in pursuit of a transformation. Apartment refurbishment is naturally more restrictive than free-standing houses, but often the playing field is still very much open to interpretation.

But more than satiating a visual harmony of the space, bringing daily harmony to the competing needs of family members, through spatial intervention, epitomises what can be achieved when a client-centred design approach is applied.

 
 
 

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Ergonomics are carefully considered through the incorporation of appliance integration and feature hardware.

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K2 Palette Series

A true example of our ethos of design for longevity, our K2 Palette Series champions the life span of our much loved K2 Kitchen System.

 

Scenic Abundance

This beautiful Cape Schanck home is poised above the escarpment of Gunnamatta Beach, with sweeping views along the farm and coast line, punctuated by the floating distant CBD appearing to hover on the horizon sky. Settled into the surrounds by native tea tree, striking against the dynamic light of the everchanging sky, the beauty of the location became a muse for the project.

Styling References + Appliances

Kitchen

Appliances

Styling Objects

Dining Table

Styling Objects


Living

Appliances

Styling Objects

Bar

Styling Objects

Artwork

MAKE Designed Objects

Butler’s Pantry

Kitchen Appliances

Styling Objects

Artwork

All artworks are sourced from Gallery Smith

Kitchen, Featured Kitchen, Whole Home, ApartmentCantilever InteriorsMelbourne, K2Comment