This Brand New Architect House

This Brand New Architect-Designed Home Could Be Yours

In Australia, architect-designed homes make up between 5 and 10% of residential properties.  Sara Tonini of Mani Architecture is passionate about sharing the value of well-designed spaces… so passionate that she initiated this project home as a vehicle to tell a story about the value of architecture.

Words by Lucy Feagins

This fabulous home had a slightly unusual genesis… instead of a client approaching the architect with a brief, architect Sara Tonini went out to prospective investors with the idea of designing a home that ‘shows people how important architecture service is.’ As a passionate advocate for the power of architecture, and the way well designed spaces can shape our lives, Sara and the all-woman team at Mani Architecture  saw this project, One Mani House (Sara and her team hope there will be a Two, and a Three…and more!), as an opportunity to ‘tell a story about the value of architecture.’

After securing a site in Fitzroy North, the design was limited by a relatively narrow footprint on the 300sqm block. The new home follows a more or less traditional terrace layout, but embraces natural light, with glass opening up the home along the entire northern side. 

The home is strikingly clad in shingles, influenced by Sara’s time living in Sweden and examples in swiss alps architecture. The cedar shingles will silver over time, and require little upkeep to maintain. For Sara, it was important to demonstrate that beautiful spaces need not be fussy, and to highlight the importance of building for longevity. This included salvaging bricks from another project, to create the curved arch at the rear of the site. 

Inside, Sara and the Mani team were eager for this project to show that ‘you don’t need to be scared of colour.’ The wet rooms (kitchen, bathrooms, splash pool) use the same tiles across the rainbow spectrum of black, pink, orange, blue and green.’ For Sara, this home is all about design education – from demonstrating how non-matching colour can be introduced, to showing how a small space can be strategically organised through clever built-in furniture and concealed services. 

The One Mani project is described by Sara as a showcase that proves how ‘spaces can make people smile.’ The Fitzroy North house is currently for sale, and, incredibly, comes with all of the furniture and commissioned artworks.

Run, don’t walk!

One Mani, located at 14 King Street Fitzroy North, is currently open to expressions of interest.

Via: https://thedesignfiles.net/on-the-market/on-the-market-mani-architecture/