This home was shaped around the different ways a family can share space. Some parts of daily life benefit from openness and interaction, while others need a little more separation. The planning responds by creating different degrees of connection across the home.

The most significant change was the removal of the middle room between the master bedroom and Bedroom 2. This gave the communal area greater depth, but rather than leaving it as one continuous open space, we used the added depth to create clearer zones within it. The living, island and family areas remain visually connected, while carpentry and furniture placement give each part enough definition to support different activities without feeling detached from the larger shared space.

The kitchen follows the same idea of connection without complete openness. The family cooks heavily, so the wet kitchen needed to contain cooking smells, but they still wanted it to feel visually linked to the rest of the home. At the same time, fully enclosing the original kitchen would have compromised the foyer storage and seating they needed. We therefore reorganised the kitchen into wet and dry zones, with the wet kitchen enclosed by a large tea coloured tinted glass door. The dry kitchen shares space with the foyer, allowing room for shoe storage, smaller everyday storage and a settee, while still accommodating appliances, worktop space and the island requested for quick meals. Both kitchen zones have their own sink. At the island, a pillar conceals the water piping required for the sink and is incorporated into the overall composition rather than treated as a separate technical element.

Elsewhere, space was redistributed according to where it would have more everyday value. The common bathroom was relatively constrained, so part of the adjacent store was absorbed into it to create a clearer wet and dry arrangement. The replacement store is smaller, but additional cabinetry elsewhere provides more accessible storage for frequently used items.

A similar approach was taken in the master bedroom. The existing configuration could not comfortably accommodate the wardrobe and dresser capacity the clients wanted, so the bedroom boundary was moved outward. The new wall provides approximately 3680 mm of wardrobe and dresser storage on the bedroom side, while the opposite face becomes bookshelves for the family area. It also conceals air conditioning services while retaining access for maintenance. An awkward corner near the bedroom entrance was absorbed partly into the new store and partly into an additional vanity, turning residual space into something useful.

Bedroom 3 was planned with future change in mind. It can currently function as a workstation, multipurpose room or guest room, with tinted glass panels allowing light through and maintaining a visual relationship with the communal area. As the children grow and eventually require separate bedrooms, the glass can be frosted or supplemented with curtains for greater privacy.

Material choices support these spatial relationships rather than lead them. Stone and wood grain give the communal areas visual weight and texture, while fabric finished panelling at the family area adds softness and improves the acoustic quality of the space.

Across the home, some spaces are enclosed but remain visually connected, while others stay open but are still clearly defined. These layers allow the family to remain part of the same shared environment while moving through different routines, levels of focus and stages of life.