Home Tour Copacabana Beach House

The holiday house of our dreams! Take a tour through the architectural finesse imagined by Brad Swartz Architects. The considered design features, which playfully explore space and shared living, leave us contemplating long weekends away by the coast.

Brad Swartz founded his architectural firm in 2015 after the completion of his own Darlinghurst apartment. With an emphasis on creating atmosphere through clever design and setting the tone of the home through space, Brad Swartz Architecture has carved a name for itself in the residential sphere.

Koskela worked with Brad to balance out the structured architecture with plush and playful furniture and décor. Read our Q&A with Brad to find out more on the design process, pits and peaks of the job as well as his inkling that cork is about to make a BIG comeback.

Can you tell us a little about the brief for this project?

The brief was to create a compact holiday home for our clients with the flexibility of having their extended family of 16 stay. 

What role do you think furnishings play in complimenting or interpreting your architectural designs?

Our architectural approach to this project was pared back with some key pieces of built-in furniture, including a tall bookshelf for our clients to display items collected on their travels and a built-in bench seat to maximise seating for entertaining the extended family. This meant we wanted the rest of the furniture (loose items) to soften the space and create a more casual feel. Having texture and colour in the furniture and displayed items also created nice a warmth against our restrained architectural palette. 

Your practice seems to have a knack for making small spaces sing, how does this translate when you have a little more space in a project like the Copa Beach House?

The same principles we use to design small spaces still apply on a project of this size. We maximised the planning efficiency and jigsawed the kitchen, 2 bathrooms and laundry into the centre of the house. The kid’s bedrooms (all 3 of them) are designed to the size of the custom bunk beds, with sliding doors to divide them (or playfully open them up).
 
We then made the most of the level changes, high ceilings and outlook to make the space feel even bigger than it is.  

What’s your favourite part about the design process?

I don’t have a favourite part, every project is different and the variety is my favourite part. On this project we really enjoyed working with and become friends with the clients.

What do you find the most challenging aspect of the job? 

The steep site was challenging and having a project located onsite and out of Sydney during the Covid lockdowns presented challenges too.

Are there any design trends we should be on the lookout for in 2021?

I think we’ll see a lot more projects that account for flexible working from home in 2021. I’m also still waiting for Cork to make its real comeback - I think 2021 could be the year!

SHOP THE LOOK.

www.bradswartz.com.au
@bradswartzarchitects

Do you have any questions? Get in touch today, and we will connect you with the right person in our team.

Koskela is proud to be the first furniture and homewares company in Australia to be a Certified B Corporation®.