This might not work
How often do we say to our clients, this might not work? A few days after a very bold colour concept had been accepted by our client, architect Phillip Arnold called me and asked, “Sonia, how confident are you that this is actually going to work?”
Long pause…. I said, “Look, I really don’t don’t know if it will work. Frankly, I am terrified it won’t work. On the other hand, I’m 80% confident in the overall strategy, but if the remaining 20% isn’t resolved then the whole thing could fall flat. It absolutely depends on having the opportunity to review and tweak and make changes during the build. This has to be an iterative process.”
In order for this to happen, we needed a builder and painters who were on board and excited about the process, not to mention a willing client.
Kodachrome Apartment (also known as Apartment for an Older Man)., 2022 Photo: Anthony Browell
To be specific about how this worked in practice: after demolition was complete and site waste removed, builder Jonathan had the painters come in and roughly paint the entire apartment in one coat of each colour. The other trades then came back to continue the fitout and installing services etc, they were not required to protect the paint work. This gave me time to review the colours, make revisions and further tests.
During demolition we uncovered some appealing off-form concrete columns and beams. For a few weeks we deliberated about rendering them smooth or not, painting them or not. We opted to leave them rough and paint them - but this created another issue - how to change colours at the banged-up corners? Corner colour changes were a key aspect of the design concept, a deliberate post modernist reference, and a way of celebrating and revealing our ‘cheap and cheerful’ approach to the interior fit-out.
The painters and I tested a couple of ways to approach this and together determined the best way to hand scribe the contours of the broken edges. The painters loved the idea and took great care in execution.
The most challenging zone was the sunroom. I wanted to accentuate the transition from the rich, dark coloured living room into the light of the sunroom, however I underestimated how much the light itself would ‘do the work’, so the first few attempts were too bright - the contrast was too jarring. It took 4 attempts to get that space right and I learnt so much in the process.
Kodachrome Apartment (also known as Apartment for an Older Man) , 2022 Photograph: Anthony Browell
Interestingly, the process reinforced something I always consider in my interior work, which is how the colours painted inside a room will interact with the views outside - I am very conscious of creating a harmonious relationship. For some reason, I thought this project might be an exception and that the interior relationships between the colours was all that mattered.
In fact, it wasn’t until I used the colours in the palette that were in harmony with the exterior view that it worked and felt just right. Duh.
What was the client's response this whole time? Excitement, support, patience, and complete confidence we would work it out. What a champion. Michael understood that to do something different and a bit experimental, the worst thing a client can do is get cold feet and then try to water down the concept.
Phillip took a group of architecture colleagues around to visit Michael and show them the completed project. One of them confessed to me he had been agonising about a small touch of colour in his house for weeks, scared to commit. He looked at me and said “well I just feel ASHAMED! What am I scared of? This is so fantastic. It feels so good”.
One more thing I want to point out - this project had a very modest budget which Phillip skillfully managed. The brief was for a functional apartment that would support a man in his ‘third age’ wishing to age in place, in his beloved local neighbourhood, connected to community.
Visiting Michael is a pleasurable experience. I was musing on the difference between visiting a person in an aged care facility, with visiting a person in their own unique home. Which do you prefer? A home that expresses one’s individuality and passions is also a vessel for connection.