Dark below, light above.
Compact buildings reward deliberate thinking about how space is experienced sequentially. Here, the ground floor palette is dark and grounded - exposed original materials, the weight and texture of the stable’s heritage layers made visible rather than plastered over. Brick, timber and stone that have been in this building for over a century are treated as the interior’s primary finish, not as something to conceal.
The new mezzanine level above reads as a deliberate contrast: lighter in material and tone, open, lifted. Carefully arranged voids connect the two levels, drawing the eye upward and giving the compact volume a sense of height it earns rather than fakes. Moving through the stables from arrival to bedroom is a sequence that shifts in character - moody and textured at ground, calm and bright above.
The mountain is always present.
South Hobart sits directly beneath kunanyi / Mount Wellington, and the view of it from this site is remarkable. Window placement throughout the project was deliberate and considered - framing the mountain from the living spaces, from the northern courtyards, and most unexpectedly, from the shower. That last detail is the kind of thing that stays with people. It is the difference between a renovation that improves a building and one that changes how you experience being in it.
“The building remains sensitive to the original era and rudimentary materials without skimping on luxury. If you love reimagined heritage spaces with sophisticated design, you will love this.””
The northern courtyard was landscaped to draw the interior out. Living spaces open directly onto it, extending the usable area of what is, by any measure, a compact footprint. For a building that earns its living as short-stay accommodation, the ability to feel connected to the landscape around it - rather than sealed off from it - is what makes it worth returning to.
