THIS PAGE, FROM TOP in Edward’s upstairs studio in the secondary
residence, side tables and centrepieces by Edward Waring; Still Life
With Crucible (1997) artwork by Peter Tilley. Tio chairs from
Massproduction; outdoor table designed by Brian Keirnan;
Infinity bowl from Lightly. Details, last pages.‹‹ The trio reconvened at the recently opened Bills cafe in
Darlinghurst, which Keirnan designed. In that immaculate, sunlit
interior for which Bills quickly became acclaimed, Keirnan pulled
out a pen and began sketching (this time on a napkin) more than
a house but a compound, a fortress. A secluded place in the middle
of what was once among Sydney’s grittiest inner-city precincts.
The floor plate of that initial plan — a tall volume at the front,
a paved courtyard and then a secondary volume at the rear — was
perfect. But 25 years on, the owners, who both gave up their jobs some
time back to concentrate on their art practice, wanted to get more
light in, to aerate both spaces and make it perfect for the next phase
of their lives. They’d been thinking that a lick of paint and some
newfangled LEDs might do the trick. Keirnan had a bigger vision.
Orchestrated in tandem with architect Mark Pearse, who had
worked with Keirnan since he was a student and now runs his own
practice, the new light well spans the width of the building, allowing
the open-plan dining and living areas to read vertically as well as
horizontally. Removing the fireplace that had occupied the centre
of the glass wall to the garden effectively extends sightlines right
through to the back of the block. And that big wall Keirnan never
liked? It’s become a monumental storage unit — a stack of elegantly
discombobulated volumes crafted from rich yellow oak and
honeycomb marble. Cantilevered from the wall and illuminated
from below, the cupboards hover above the timber floor. At one end,
a rogue oblong drawer protrudes to form a display shelf; at the
other, a steel-and-glass cabinet floats out into space. “It’s got
something of an Escher feel to it,” says Hipgrave as we ascend the
narrow stairway concealed behind it.
The main bedroom occupies the first floor and gives onto
a private terrace. It’s here Hipgrave works at a small round table,
painting exotic flora and fauna onto porcelain plates using sable
brushes from Japan. Supremely delicate, her fluid linear work
references 19th-century scientific drawing. More Joseph Banks
than Banksy, it’s fine work that revels in the decorative.
Daughter Nina, 22, also an artist, has her bedroom (and
impressive sneaker collection) on the next floor up. Waring’s studio
is out the back, past a stand of mature bamboo. The original single-
storey bungalow has been endowed with a second floor, making it
dialogue more eloquently with the main house. It’s up here that
Waring creates sculptural assemblages of cut crystal and glass
vessels. From his eyrie, a rustic timber door opens out onto the roof,
where he picks perfectly ripe avocados from a towering tree.
Looking back towards the main house, the rigorous composition
is evident in the bank of full-height louvres that form the garden
wall. The dropped ceiling over the dining area delineates it from
the living space and the semi-enclosed kitchen reads like a theatre
set. The robust structural program is offset by moments of whimsy
— a bespoke barrel-and-pin metal balustrade that leads the way
to the upper floors, undulating gossamer curtains, jewel-hued
furniture in plush velvets that absorb and then emanate light.
“The first version of the house was like a warehouse,” says Hipgrave,
“but this is more like a home.”
Hipgrave and Waring have decided to call their home the
Brian Keirnan House in honour of one Sydney’s most remarkable
interior architects. VL
Susan Hipgrave’s exhibition It’s a Jungle Out There opens at
Sydney’s Arthouse Gallery on 7 March; arthousegallery.com.au;
susanhipgrave.com