Cremorne

Seventy-eight square metres in Cremorne, and every decision had to earn its place. The brief was compact but not minimal — the client wanted materials that were present, not surfaces that disappeared. The challenge is that a small apartment cannot afford a material that does not resolve perfectly with its neighbours.

The floor is a single continuous pour of terrazzo in a white base with charcoal aggregate, running edge to edge without a joint. This was the first decision and the one that made all subsequent decisions easier: once the floor is given, everything above it has a fixed tonal ground. The walls are Japanese lime plaster in a tadelakt finish — the same technique used in Moroccan hammams, burnished to a near-waterproof surface that is both practical in the wet areas and formally consistent throughout. Antiqued brass fixtures were specified already aged: they will not change dramatically, which is the point. This apartment needed to feel settled on the first day.

The shou sugi ban feature wall in the bedroom is the only surface that introduces real darkness into the plan. Against the pale plaster it reads not as a contrast but as a shadow — a zone of weight that pulls the eye and makes the room feel larger by creating differentiated zones within what is actually a single rectangular space. The technique was applied on site using local spotted gum, charred with a torch and wire-brushed to expose the grain before oiling.