This apartment is located within in one of architect Kirsten Thompson’s very first projects – her sensitive adaptation of a former XXXX building in inner Fitzroy, into a series of generous apartments in the 1990s. The owners had been overseas for several years and ready for a refresh – whilst respecting Thompson’s work. Unlike many contemporary, developer driven adaptive multi-residential projects, Thompson very much maintained the integrity of the building with a light touch, minimal but intelligent insertions, and a universal palette that runs through the entire building; timber, white painted brick grounded with block of navy-tinged charcoal, and bold ceramic tiles to wet areas. This project needed to evolve its foundational intent rather than a radical departure in order to remain a cohesive part of the rest of the building.
                Examining the form of the existing plan, we were able to analyse the grid-based moves Thompson had made, and extrapolate and play within her structural logic. We expanded the grid established by Thompson; we zoomed in to a finer scale to form new axes, new armatures for living. We forged new visual pathways through her grid – sensory expansions through curved mirrored ‘vortices’ that pull the user into a different dimension, folding time and space reminiscent of the dreamlike sequence at the end of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey. That catch the outside world and reflect it into the interior. At special times of day, in different parts of the apartment, the sun glances these vortices and casts a vibrant, fleeting greenness into the space. In this way, the apartment is acts as a passive heliostat,* capturing sunlight to enhance the interior.
                The palette builds upon the existing – complimentary local bluestone, figured with air bubbles in molten basalt and the ancient chemical reactions that occurred in this place millions of years ago; mirrored textured stainless steel, velvety laminate.
                Heliotope has been fortunate to re-visit the project to refresh the bathroom and wardrobe areas, and is in the process of designing a social space for the apartment’s rooftop.

* A heliostat (from Ancient Greek ἥλιος (hḗlios) 'sun' and στατός (statós) 'standing') is a device that reflects sunlight toward a target. The reflector is usually a plane mirror.