Inside a Family Home Designed by an Architect for Effortless Living (House Tour)
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Architecture is not a static building. It is a place where someone lives, someone works,
and I think for me it's about creating these environments that really support
the rhythms of people's daily lives.
My name is Rich Karr. I'm the director at Rich Karr Architects.
Taramara is a suburb in the upper north shore of Sydney,
a very tree-lined leafy area filled with families and immense natural beauty.
The clients came to us with a really simple yet layered brief.
It can be distilled into a simple line. All they wanted was an adult home.
But the existing home was sentimental. It had a lot of family memory.
It had a lot of connection to the family, so it was really important that this was not lost.
This became instrumental in the brief,
especially in creating this adult home where people were to come and go and then return.
From the leafy tree-lined street, the house intentionally sits
understated as its original bungalow form.
Reading is a single-story dwelling with only small reference
that there is something more to this house to follow.
Upon entry, there is an immediate shift in light. The space is soft and inviting.
The front section of the house, being the old house,
is where the private areas are, like the primary bedroom.
This is a little suite, a little sanctuary, which is a little hidden gem,
which continues on through to a walking wardrobe that extends further through to the ensuite.
The light immediately draws you through this house from the southwestern entry
through to the northerly facing living spaces.
Whilst open plan, there is clear division and direction of spaces
through the use of ceiling height and levels.
The kitchen and dining sits elevated on a split level,
overlooking the living room, stepping down with the natural topography.
The living space enjoys double height space, drenched in sunlight,
and it was important to connect these spaces with ventilation, but also movement.
The living space is actually quite a narrow space.
However, with the doors opened all the way up,
it is very generous and spills all the way out into the garden.
It was absolutely key for the kitchen to be primarily functional.
We spent quite a bit of time going through the layout
and how everything was placed and moving around the kitchen
to try and get the absolute optimal layout for this family.
This is not just about the placement of cutlery around the placement of a stove
in relation to the sink or in relation to the fridge.
It's also how you move a plate from one side to the other.
So when we were looking at the ovens, it was important that this was done as a tower.
We ended up with a paralytic oven with a combi steam oven as well
and located these at a height that was actually going to work with our client.
It's also nice for them to be tucked away and hidden.
There's those appliances like a dishwasher that you don't necessarily want to see.
You want that sort of seamless integration,
which runs consistently through your kitchen joinery
and even into the design through to other spaces,
even hidden spaces like a butler's pantry.
So it was actually quite simple to work with Miller on this
because we were able to integrate our appliances
and there was no worry about having it as a backdrop.
The use of Australian timbers and stone was really important to us
and there is a reference to this same material palette through the whole house.
In fact, it's just used in a different way.
The stone throughout the house, we went with a dark stone.
This stone was not to stand there as a showcase.
The stone was there to bleed away into the background to let the timber sing.
In the same way, the cooktop sits flush with the stone.
There's no lips.
It's just a simple surface that runs over the whole lot.
When returning to this house after a bit of time,
one of my proudest moments is actually seeing the difference
from handover to it being lived in.
And that difference is the personal elements that have been brought in
that actually lift the house.
And it's these personal elements like knickknacks.
It could be sentimental items.
But these are the things that actually take it from being a house to a home.