Jury comment
Nine-Square Bondi embodies a local Australian architectural and interior vernacular of a very high calibre. The jury was impressed that it resolved a complex collection of spatial issues via a great degree of integration, from the decorative elements, interiors and architecture, through to its urban response. It displays an elegant spatial resolution, clarity in its expression and sophisticated curation of objects and furnishings that take the home to another level, all the while displaying a very strong relationship to its exterior. One jury member noted that it has soul and a real sense of home, which comes from the intimate and relaxed connection between all the elements in the space.
Design statement
Nine-Square Bondi is a breakaway project curating space, memory, place, experience and objects. A challenging brief results in a series of uplifting, light-filled volumes that engage in a playful way with the vibrant local community and the client’s evocations of recent years in Hong Kong.
This unique project is a curation of space, memory, place, experience and objects. It expands on typical interior design practice through its holistic approach to the detailed physical and philosophical brief. It is a dynamic and complex series of interior volumes and gardens with an external presentation.
Passive solar design is fundamental to all Madeleine Blanchfield Architects’ work. Orientation, sun-shading, cross ventilation, thermal mass and all available applied technologies are incorporated.
The structural grid is expressed to delineate the top floor into a series of interconnected spaces. The interiors can be separated with sliding partitions and sheer curtains for maximum flexibility. This gallery-esque series of spaces holds and showcases a wild collection of things.
Nine-Square Bondi is located in Bondi Beach, NSW, on the land of the Bidjigal, Birrabirragal and Gadigal peoples.
Project credits
Design practice — Madeleine Blanchfield Architects
Project team — Madeleine Blanchfield, Nick Channon, Atelier Lab
The Residential Design Award is supported by Sub-Zero Wolf. The Australian Interior Design Awards are presented by the Design Institute of Australia and Artichoke magazine. For more images of this project, see the Australian Interior Design Awards gallery.
