Castray Apartment

Field Labs completed the contemporary residential refit of an ex-ordinance store heritage building in the Castray Esplanade in Salamanca of Hobart.

Firm
  • area / size 1,399 sqft
  • Year 2016
  • Location Hobart, Australia,
  • Type Apartment,
  • A series of black painted ply and steel joinery items divide the space into different zones within the gridded floor plan. Existing timber columns + sandstone walls add material contrasts to the new joinery and Tas Oak flooring.

    Key challenges involved working with the heritage fabric of the building to create a contemporary apartment in a mixed used building, including resolving technical issues such as acoustics and fire separation.

    Solutions to the challenges were overcome by working within the existing structural grid of the loft space to create distinct rooms, and inserting black painted ply and black steel joinery elements as room dividers, with opaque highlight glazing to the internal walls to allow for natural daylight to penetrate the building.

    The brief was to convert an existing heritage loft into a contemporary apartment for a gallery owner. The existing building dates from 1838, and is designed by the renowned colonial architect John Lee Archer.

    Design: Field Labs
    Photography: Matt Sansom