5 elements to consider when designing a living space

They say the kitchen is the heart of the home, but we believe this applies to all living spaces. That is because you spend most of your time in communal areas and, as such, they add the most enrichment to your life. So here are the 5 elements we recommend you to consider when designing a living space.

Your living spaces are the backdrop of so many daily rituals…

• Your morning coffee

• Debriefing the day over family dinner

• Time out on the couch when you get home

• Cooking dinner while the kids play nearby

• Cosying up with a book on a rainy weekend

Elevating these little rituals is one of the joys of designing your own home. In doing so, you get to express yourself and create a home that feels like an oasis.

That is why we recommend prioritising living spaces when it comes to managing where you allocate your budget, because you will reap the payoffs every day.  

To create spaces that feel as though they nurture your life, we consider 5 key pillars when designing loungerooms, kitchens, dining rooms and outdoor living areas. We outline them below, with examples of how we incorporate these principles into our practice.

1. Lifestyle and rituals

We know we’ve listed some common rituals above, but chances are you have your own wishlist of things you want in your living space.

Take the Goskar House as an example. They wanted to be able to watch their young children either play or do homework while they prepared meals. So the kitchen has clear sightlines to the mezzanine upstairs, the garden and the study. This allows the family to feel connected, even when they are engaging in separate activities.

In your briefing session, we work through your rituals and a typical day to determine how your living spaces can enhance the flow of daily life.

2. Scale

When living areas are too large, you can feel lost in the space. Getting the scale right is the key to a space that feels comfortable and inviting, yet still spacious enough for entertaining.

Ways to work with scale include…

• Creating small nooks within larger living areas, such as study nooks or window seats for reading

• Framing views to make living spaces feel larger and capture natural light

• Using double-height voids to add scale and light in smaller living areas 

• Using materials such as timber to add warmth to open-plan living spaces

In Beaumont Apartment, we opened up closed-in living spaces to improve the flow of the home and introduce more natural light. Then we used light pine and tallowwood timber to add texture and warmth to the living area.

In Goskar Street House, we used a void, study nook and connection with the outdoors to maximise the scale of the living area.

3. Adaptability

When designing a living area, consider how your lifestyle is likely to change over time. Your kids may be about to hit their teenage years, or perhaps you will need space to accommodate ageing parents in the coming years.

In our Canegrove House project, we are adding an extension to the home to make it more adaptable for a growing family. The new living areas provide spaces for gathering the family together and a smaller reading nook for taking time out to recharge. This makes the home’s living areas more adaptable for the practicalities of family life.

Similarly, in the Channel Street Studio we wanted to create a space that can either support independent living in the future or become a teenager’s retreat.

4. Visual interest

If you are investing in an architect, aesthetics will be an important consideration for you. But creating visual interest in a living area does not always come through your material palette – often the design process focuses on creating spaces for possessions you want to display, so the home is not competing with the things you love.

That could be a cherished piece of furniture, your favourite pieces of art or cabinetry for your book collection, photos and travel souvenirs. In a project we are working on at the time of writing, a place to display the kids’ LEGO creations is a key part of the brief. This feature of the living space will allow the family to express who they are and gain more enjoyment from the space.

In the Beaumont Apartment, we incorporated a series of blank walls and cabinetry throughout the home for the owner’s art collection. This was an important part of the brief and informed the selections we made in the living areas. 

These little things are what make a home feel truly yours, so be sure to mention them to your architect. 

5. Connection with other spaces

When planning living spaces, consider the overall flow of a home. Questions to consider include…

• Do your living spaces connect seamlessly with other key areas of the home, like the laundry, outdoor spaces and study?

• Do they feel separate from private areas, such as the master bathroom or the parents’ retreat?

• Do you want your living spaces to act as the entry to the home, or do you want a more formal entry sequence?

Prioritising indoor-outdoor connection makes indoor spaces feel larger, well lit and more functional – and it makes sense to do so in the Queensland climate. When outdoor spaces connect seamlessly to internal living areas, you gain more living space, feel connected with the setting of your home and can see out to a garden or views beyond your home. 

In Goskar Street House, the kitchen is a high-use space, so it connects with the garden, dining and loungeroom, laundry and study area.

Our architecture practice prioritises functional, dynamic and thoughtfully connected spaces over what’s currently in fashion. To learn more about design philosophy and approach to architecture, email us to request Our Studio document.