Bijou by the Beach: Anywhere Apartment by Brad Swartz Architects.

If the home is where we go to reset, rest and take respite from the sheer pace of everyday life, then the Anywhere Apartment by Brad Swartz Architects has managed to capture its purpose perfectly. Tucked between the suburban streets of Bondi Beach, this safe haven offers the owner a break from the business bustle and manages to do so in just 50-square-meters, proving that no space is too small and that quality will always trump quantity when it comes to considered and cool designs.

It may be a Bondi local, but the Anywhere Apartment could have been, well, anywhere, as it isn’t held back by any contextual anchors or references to its surroundings. The team at Brad Swartz Architects managed to put together a beach-based palette of honest materials, cut with some cool, clean stainless steel joinery elements, with a slight nod to its neighbourhood but without adopting its character entirely.

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The undisputed hero of this compact space is the kitchen island that wraps around the corner into the bathroom.

Most notably, the kitchen island, with its operable sliding steel insert into the rectangle of travertine, centres the cooking activities around these two materials and starts the conversation that sets the tone for the remainder of the rooms. Anything operable in a small space is always a win, offering users multiple spatial configurations when it was thought that there was only room for one. This diversification also just makes things a little more fun.

Continuing with the bijou beach narrative, the (indoor) shower speaks to the original pivoting art deco windows and, combined with the selection of toasty, coffee-coloured Moroccan tiles, creates the feeling of being in an outdoor shower after a long day out surfing. Despite being small in stature, the facilities appear spacious, and the split of the toffee-coloured tiles assist in enlarging this space.

Built by Mobius Build. Joinery by Ethan James and Co. Editorial styling by Room on Fire. Photography by Clinton Weaver.

From bath to bed, the insertion of a low-levelled void shelf in the bedroom casework gives the illusion of higher ceilings, immediately elevating and enlarging the space, generating breathing room after a long day. Small details like the mirrored niche of the shelf insert further add to the agenda of space activation and extension. The continuation of the white tiled floor finish and floor-to-ceiling doors are similar space-swelling tricks the team at BSA had up their sleeve.

In keeping the existing walls white, the space is safe from clutter and being over-stimulated, simultaneously offering the owner an opportunity to display an ever-growing art collection and allowing the Anywhere Apartment to develop its own sense of identity and character. The use of a golden-hued Henry Wilson light beckoning one into the bedroom foreshadows the intrigue and eclecticism that the apartment might offer in the future and suggests a certain flexibility to house a myriad of personalities in its lifetime.

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[Images courtesy of Brad Swartz Architects. Built by Mobius Build. Joinery by Ethan James and Co. Editorial styling by Room on Fire. Photography by Clinton Weaver.]