The project by Ritz&Ghougassian pays homage to the sites historic archetype as a furniture workshop under the name of CF Rojo & Sons and later as the Thonet furniture showroom.The project’s design and materiality was informed by the existing facade and the surrounding environment.
The space sits encased within the original heritage facade made of red pressed brick work and old stucco. An adjacent laneway paved in brick pavers runs underfoot, whilst concrete columns rise up to a ceiling grid primed in red oxide.
The ceiling grid compartmentalises the space creating pockets of light and shade, volume and intimacy. Steel cladding to the kitchen reads as an extrusion from the ceiling grid. Timber furniture echoes back to the sites past and divides the space through skeletal shelving units. Photography by Tom Blachford