Sydney’s leading architect on creating a space you never want to leave
Madeleine Blanchfield Architects is short-listed for four of its recently completed projects at this month’s Australian Interior Design Awards. We sit down with its principal to discuss why she always works from the inside out.
Award-winning architect Madeleine Blanchfield clearly recalls the moment an emerging love of art, mathematics and design collided, unwittingly sparking a passion that drew her to a brilliant career.
“I always loved art; I was quite a visual person. And I remember when I was about 10, going on a school camp and they asked us to draw a house and I really, really, really wanted to draw this house that was in my head, but I didn’t have the skills. I distinctly remember sitting under this big fig tree and thinking ‘I really want to do that’, and it sort of stuck with me,” Blanchfield says.
Years down the track, the principal of respected Sydney design firm Madeleine Blanchfield Architects has been recognised for four of her recently completed Sydney projects – the spectacular Shell House, on the headland above Shelly Beach near Manly; Vessel, a striking Victorian terrace in inner-city Darlinghurst; Freshwater, a finessed family residence on the leafy Northern Beaches; and breezy nature-focused property Barefoot House, in the eastern beachside suburb of Clovelly.
There are 27 projects out of a record 222 entries short-listed for the prestigious Australian Interior Design Awards Residential Decoration category this year, and Blanchfield boasts the most properties on the list for impeccable interior design.
“It’s a real honour because I know the calibre of the works is just extraordinary and there’s so many entries. I’ve sat on juries before where you’re just absolutely blown away,” she says.
“So being short-listed is a wonderful thing. Also, it’s always exciting to see the other projects, too.”
Blanchfield’s first award as a solo architect, after stepping away from prestigious firm Burley Katon Halliday to start her own 15 years ago, was Gordons Bay House, which took out the New Houses category in the Australian Institute of Architects Awards in 2013. The scale and scope of the projects she works on now, in collaboration with her tight-knit team of 13, are wildly varied. But what is universal is her seemingly simple yet sophisticated, holistic design and aesthetic, which is evident in every residence she creates.
“I’m obsessed with the space and light. And so, we design from the inside out. We’re really interested in the spaces, how they feel, and how they relate to each other,” she says. “How can we make it feel like a journey from the front door as you go in and get more and more impressive as it opens up? What is the space that you just want to stay in and never leave? That is calm and beautiful, not just for its finishes, but for the light and the proportions.
“That’s very different to making a shape and then fitting the spaces into it. Which is a very valid approach, but that’s not the way we approach things.”
Vessel is a prime example of Blanchfield’s design process, where conception of the interior aesthetic and intention is the starting point and everything else is allowed to then seamlessly follow.
“We don’t differentiate between architecture and interiors. For us it’s a project and so we’re always drawing all the furniture from day one pretty much. And most of the time, clients will work with us to do all the furniture,” she says.
“Some of our clients bring a lot in terms of the interiors and furniture and like to be very involved, and then others not so much. But that’s why the projects all look quite different, it’s very client-centric.”
Materials also play a key role in the design process, as was the case in the Freshwater and Vessel projects, where Krause Bricks in the colour Ghost were cleverly integrated in strikingly different ways.
“We started to play with this brick. These two projects were running concurrently. I think often when you get a material you get quite excited by it and then start pushing a bit further and then into the next project. I think our work is very simple but it’s important to use the material in the way that suits [it] and not push things to feel tortured or awkward,” she says.
Attention to the finer detail is also a trademark of Blanchfield’s designs.
“I think this goes back to just very small details can make a very big difference. It’s all alignments of joints and tiny little things that you don’t really notice, but it just gives the whole thing a sense of having been finessed.”
She says walking a client through a finished project is an emotional journey on multiple levels. “It’s enormous because it’s often three or four years by the time you’ve done a design and documentation and been on site for two years. It’s really a huge leap of faith,” Blanchfield says.
“Most people only build a house once and they don’t necessarily have any background in construction or design. So, it’s really putting a lot of trust in us, which we’re very grateful for and slightly scared of sometimes. But we really have heightened awareness of that the whole way through.”
One of Blanchfield’s most challenging builds was ironically her own home in Bronte, which she shares with her husband, fellow architect Guy Lake, and their two children.
“We both swore that we would not go out with another architect and then we met through my flatmate, just completely randomly, and had to break the rules,” she says.
“We were in the old house for probably eight years, just saving up and arguing about the design before we actually did it.”
While the house is relatively small, it incorporates all her signature elements: simple, sophisticated interiors and beautiful aspects from every angle, inside and out.
“It was an absolute nightmare. We ended up deciding that he should be the client and I would be the architect because it was just not working with us both. And so that worked fine, I just ignored him and did what I wanted,” she says, laughing.
The Australian Interior Design Awards gala dinner is in Sydney on June 14.
This story is from the June issue of WISH.