2022 Gallery
Winner: Apartment or Unit
Brad Swartz Architects for Inala Apartment
Named Inala, an Aboriginal word meaning ‘resting place’, this 1963 two-bedroom apartment is transformed, with key rooms relocated to maximise the small footprint and forge new connections to light and landscape. A timeless palette and seamless finishes in concrete, stainless-steel and oak create a sense of calm.
Jury Citation
Le Corbusier said: “A house is a machine for living in. Baths, sun, hot-water, cold-water … hygiene, beauty in the sense of good proportion.” The 1960s red-brick apartment block that is home to Inala Apartment may well have been driven by these ideals. But how we live now – and the ways we want our homes to function – has changed. Today, the challenges of reworking older housing stock lie in fixing cramped kitchens, improving awkward circulation and connecting social spaces to the world outside.
Inala Apartment responds deftly and decisively to its modern occupants’ aspirations for flexibility and dynamic social interaction. Despite its modest footprint, it exemplifies the transformative power of design and the capacity to reimagine space as a backdrop to everyday life. From arrival to relaxing, socializing and sleeping, Inala re-prioritizes spaces and surfaces to suit contemporary patterns of use. The radical re-working of the apartment’s compact plan allows for new engagement with the city, and stronger bonds for the growing family that call it home.
Each deceptively simple yet carefully calibrated move has been handled with precision. The hallway now accommodates a concealed pantry, laundry, refrigerator and wine rack; living spaces have been relocated to enjoy a sun-filled corner location; and sliding doors and inbuilt joinery maximize efficiency.
Inala Apartment re-imagines what is possible in our middle ring, mid-rise dense suburbs, invisibly placing the “machinery of living” at the disposal of a generous and full family life.
