‘Unusually undesigned’: Troye Sivan’s home shows livability is in, gimmicky is out

Pop star Troye Sivan wanted his new home to be like a warm hug, filled with glowing lamps, comfy couches, fluffy chairs, and a big bath.

His designers delivered. The winners of this year’s Australian Interior Design Awards announced at a Sydney gala on Friday night included Flack Studio, which decorated Sivan’s Melbourne home.

Troye Sivan at his house in Melbourne. The interior decoration of his home by Flack Studio won an award for interior decoration in 2022 Australian Interior Design Awards.Credit: Anson Smart

The winners of this year’s awards reveal that opulence and gimmicky design is out, and livability and ‘hugability’ are in. The year’s highest accolade, the Premier Award, went to Stable and Cart House by Clare Cousins Architects. Other designers won for designs of a robotics lab, an Adelaide open flame restaurant Arkhé, and the interior of a rare and limited edition sneaker store.

The winner across all categories, Cousins’ creative adaptation of a Melbourne stable and cart store designed by Harry A Norris 100 years ago, was the “stand-out” entry this year, said jury member and Sydney architect Madeleine Blanchfield.

Troye Sivan House by Flack Studio which has won a 2022 Australian Interior Design Awards for decoration.Credit: Anson Smart

And the decision to award Cousins the top prize was unanimous, she said. Cousins also won the prize for residential design.

The jurors said, “What resonates most is the authenticity of the design, and the way it has been conceived to be lived in, not just looked at.

They said the conversion of the old warehouse to a home was sublime in every way, particularly how it had “brought light into a void, and had created a sense of naturalness and comfort.”

Stable & Cart House by Clare Cousins Architects won the highest prize, the Premier Award, and the residential prize at the 2022 Australian Interior Design Awards.Credit: Sharyn Cairns

Flack Studio won the award for residential decoration for Sivan’s award-winning home.

Built in 1869 as handball court, the property has been reinvented about as many times as Sivan, who has matured from YouTuber to actor and singer-songwriter. The old handball court was turned into a home in 1970 by Australian architect John Mockridge in what was the first adaptive reuse project of its kind in Melbourne.

Sivan and Flack Studios kept the quirky cork ceiling added by Mockridge. He told Architectural Digest he could imagine the architect Mockridge drinking at home with his friends.

“I wanted to preserve that Bohemian spirit and honour the original architecture while creating something that feels like me,” said Sivan.

In a video walking through the house, Sivan showed off his reading nook, saying he hoped everyone could have a similar space: “A place to meditate, or just kind of kick back and relax and enjoy your life.”

He pointed to lamps that he liked. “I think the goal was to have a like a soup of light … I didn’t want hard overhead lighting because no one looks good in that.”

Sivan pointed to the books. “I have just heaps and heaps of books. And not a lot of people know this, but I am very, very gay,” he said. “And just in case people don’t know that, I litter gay homoerotic books around the house.”

Troye Sivan’s house, designed by Flack Studio.Credit: Anson Smart

Blanchfield said the Sivan design by Flack Studio was so appealing because it bucked the normal trend where the designer put his or her stamp on a design.

“It is very much [Sivan] the person. It doesn’t feel like it was done by a designer, it was done to reflect the owners’ character,” she said. It also kept the spirit of the existing building, a highly regarded piece of architecture.

“It is unusually undesigned, and it feels genuine,” said Blanchfield.

In contrast, many other entries were perfect and opulent.

This year’s awards are the 19th by the Design Institute of Australia and Architecture Media’s Artichoke Magazine.

Other awards winners in the following categories include:

• Retail design by Studio Edwards for the Finesse Shoe Store in Collingwood. The judges said the design was urban, and relevant to the nature of rare and limited edition sneakers.
• Hospitality by Studio Gram for Arkhé. The judges unanimously agreed the design of open flame restaurant in dark charred looking wood Adelaide was the front-runner in the categor. “This project strikingly manages a complex series of spaces through an extraordinary use of materiality and light without trying too hard. ”
• Workplace design by BVN of Multiplex Headquarters, and
• Public design by Studio Bright of Monash Robotics Lab.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.