Condo complexes are typically microcosms of cities: locations the place life unfolds in shut quarters that, sarcastically, perpetuate solitude. Handy proximity doesn’t all the time translate to connection, and residents can stay side-by-side for years with out actually understanding each other. This was the case for designer Luis Gomez-Siu, who lived in a Sydney condo the place interactions with neighbours have been restricted to transient greetings within the raise and fleeting nods within the hall.
After six years of renting within the constructing, Luis acquired and renovated a one-bedroom condo just a few doorways down. Throughout renovations, on the finish of every day, he swept and mopped the shared hall to scrub up the mud development left behind. What started as a neighbourly gesture turned a catalyst that remodeled the constructing’s residents into a strong neighborhood of mates.
Luis grew up in Lima, Peru, the place he studied structure. His first foray into the career was deeply private, and just a little unconventional. His dad and mom quickly relocated, leaving the household residence in his care … and he proceeded to secretly renovate it. His dad and mom have been growing old, and his purpose was to make their lives simpler and extra manageable via a collection of pragmatic architectural gestures. He began with the loos and, to his delight, his returning dad and mom favored what they noticed, giving him the inexperienced mild to improve the remainder of the home and even buy a neighbouring vacant lot to create a backyard. This private endeavour strengthened Luis’s perception within the energy of structure to enhance individuals’s lives.
Luis moved from Lima to Sydney, the place he accomplished his grasp’s diploma and has lived for 15 years. Reflecting on similarities between the 2 cities he has referred to as residence, he noticed that except community-conscious areas are deliberately fostered, it’s not unusual to really feel lonely in a densely populated metropolis of tens of millions.
Luis’s condo in Rosebery (situated contained in the Coda condo constructing designed by Stanisic Architects in 2008) is a tapestry of recollections woven with threads of nostalgia and connections to his Peruvian roots. As a lover of vegetation and an avid gardener, Luis drew on the placing parallels between the Australian and Peruvian landscapes to remodel his balcony right into a reminder of residence: a verdant sanctuary with an expansive inexperienced wall. This rigorously crafted protecting layer isn’t just a visible centrepiece, but in addition an ecological one which absorbs noise, improves air high quality and supplies a sensory respite from the city surrounds. Mundane but important utilities – just like the airconditioning unit, which shares a customized planter with a fig tree – have been cleverly hid.
As a sole practitioner, Luis follows a design philosophy outlined by absence of ego and protracted return to idea: choices must be pragmatic, not extravagant, and high quality ought to take precedence over amount. The condo’s inside consequently feels open, ethereal and calming, with a black-and-white palette that radiates minimalist attraction but conveys unmistakable richness. A curved wall on the entrance creates an intimate entry sequence; vertical cladding boards seamlessly conceal storage on one aspect, and a built-in eating nook affords cosy seating on the opposite.
Persevering with into the condo reveals a second storey that homes the bed room, lavatory and examine. This second storey is a mezzanine stage, giving the residing house a double-height quantity full of northern mild; a hoya plant climbs between each ranges by way of a bespoke set up piece by artist Jamie North, additional accentuating the beneficiant quantity and making a residing sculpture. Whereas finishes and supplies are easy and cost-effective all through, there may be nothing austere about them, and their particulars effortlessly convey sophistication and magnificence.
The result’s an condo that balances intimacy and expansiveness for Luis, whose love of entertaining sees him host (and cook dinner for) all the pieces from small gatherings to 40-guest events. However this undertaking has achieved greater than only a stunning non-public residence: it has additionally inspired spontaneous interplay amongst those that stay within the constructing and defied the prevailing narrative that condo residing is remoted residing. It could be a microcosm, actually: one which reveals us how generosity and pleasure may reimagine city residing.