“My clients didn’t want to make any major changes but to simply enjoy the spaces rather than reconfigure them,” says Suarez Ruiz.
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The top level, originally conceived for Carlstrom as his photographic studio, is virtually as is, with its darkroom still there.
Below it, the third level, containing the kitchen, needed an update. While not wanting to replicate the past, the new kitchen, with its curved black stone bench and vermillion joinery, a combination of MDF and polyurethane, has the feel of the 1970s, when colour was at the fore. The black mosaic tiles on the splashback create a contemporary edge.
Rather than impose on the original design with contemporary features now seen as part and parcel of contemporary living – think walk-in dressing areas and parents’ retreats – A Studio Architecture provided sensitive insertions taking its cues from the past. Some of the 1970s glass bricks, for example, needed to be repaired.
New glass tiles in the ensuite to the main bedroom.
However, for the ensuite bathroom linked to the main bedroom, the strategy was to use contemporary glass bricks for its curved wall, echoing the colour of the original glass bricks. Complete with a freestanding bathtub, there’s a continual play of dappled light through the surrounding trees. And while the other two bedrooms on the same level are relatively modest in scale by today’s standards, they’ve been left as they were intended.
One of the main changes to the house was the reworking of the lowest level. Given it was added in the 1990s, the subterranean space allowed for more freedom.
The black mosaic tiles used for the splashback create a contemporary edge.Credit: Kylie Mills
“It was really fairly basic and needed a new kitchenette and a bathroom,” says Suarez Ruiz, who removed a few partitions and opened up the space to allow for greater flexibility. Curtains allow the space to be reconfigured, and the blue lino floors can be used for dancing without worrying about scuff marks. And for the owners and their friends, the pleasure of listening to music framed by a naturalist garden, designed by landscape architect David Duncan, must be heavenly.
“We’re only a seven-minute drive from the Harbour Bridge but you feel as though you’re in the middle of the bush,” says Suarez Ruiz.
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Furio Valich, who died in 2021, would have certainly been delighted that his Nioka House will continue to give pleasure for many years to come. And it’s certainly a forever house, going well beyond faddish trends or fleeting tastes.
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