Glenhuntly Rd Apartment

The Glenhuntly Rd apartment project began with a single clear intention, to add to an existing Art Deco apartment without unsettling it. Every piece of joinery was designed to feel modern in its simplicity but classical in its craft, sitting comfortably alongside the building’s original character rather than competing with it. The result is a series of pieces that are as considered when closed as when open, each one capable of producing a small moment of surprise or quiet pleasure for anyone moving through the space.

The client, a film producer, shaped the design more than most. The joinery pieces draw directly from the proportions and horizontal language of film, each unit carrying its own distinct personality. Look long enough and the compositions take on a life of their own: panels that suggest mouths, horizontal elements that read as arms or wings, volumes that invite the same kind of free association as cloud watching on a warm afternoon. It’s architecture that makes people feel at ease without them quite knowing why.

The material choices are as deliberate as the forms. Recycled Stringybark and Blackbutt, re-milled from various sources, wrap each piece in continuous horizontal bands, boards sorted by length so that a single timber runs the full width without interruption. Handles were left out entirely, replaced by subtle 18mm finger holes that encourage touch and will, over time, develop their own patina of use. Every exposed edge is solid timber. Nothing is decorative for its own sake.

Sustainability runs through the whole project quietly but thoroughly. Recycled timber, zero-emission MDF, low VOC paints, water-based floor finishes, cross ventilation preserved throughout, and new ceiling and floor insulation to reduce the apartment’s energy load year-round. The kind of decisions that don’t make headlines but add up to a project built with genuine care for the people inside it and the world outside.