Home to a large, busy family, the interior of this character house was selectively renovated to provide an anchor for family life. With the intention to create a calm and functional yet striking intervention, the renovation brings together a restrained approach and an expression of craft and character that speaks to the original features of the home.

The focus of the renovation was on the kitchen and dining spaces, with adjacent scullery and laundry zones. Links and threshold are important throughout the project, with the insertion of new doors with solid bronze handles between arrival and living zones.

Within the soft white open-plan space of the kitchen and dining area, two solid stone masses are set in a simple arrangement: one rising from the ground and the other hovering from the ceiling. The monolithic stone bench anchors the open plan space, with the long linear mass both drawing the dining space and kitchen together, and setting different tones for the two zones. Counterbalancing the bench, the hovering stone-clad extract transforms a typically utilitarian part of the kitchen into a sculptural object, set in front of a new window through which morning light illuminates the space. Both bench and extract are clad in soft-toned Como Charcoal limestone.