Shrine Apartment in Melbourne by Studio Edwards.

For this compact 55-square-metre apartment remodel, Studio Edwards creates a series of interconnecting living spaces anchored around views of Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and the Botanic Gardens sitting opposite.

Situated on the third floor, the internal layout is skewed allowing the apartment to expand and contract as you move through the spaces. An angled wall tapers from the entry lobby into the living space, loosely defining and demarcating the kitchen and utility areas. Reflective and angled vertical surfaces within the living areas enhance the ambivalence between interior and exterior, creating a perception of larger volume.

The raised sisal floor plinth for the sleeping zone further blurs the delineation between ‘private’ and ‘public’ space. Behind is a darkened bathroom volume lined in bluestone, elevated to maximise views outwards from the shower and bathtub via a sliding hatch located in the interconnecting bedroom wall.

Contrast is created between darkened ambience, sharp lines, reflectivity and tactile surfaces. The apartment, characterised by innovation, materiality and restraint, creates one continuous space that captures and reflects views into the interior.

Established in 2016, Studio Edwards is an ideas–led practice operating across architecture, interiors and conceptual design disciplines. The Melbourne studio is dedicated to pushing these disciplines in innovative and unexpected directions.

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[Images courtesy of Studio Edwards. Photography by Peter Bennetts.]