Award of Merit:

Richards Stanisich for 9-15 Young Street

Led by Jonathan Richards and Kirsten Stanisich, our ethos has been to develop a design practice with a singular vision for the quality and design calibre we provide our clients. We are intent on responding to each project with a unique voice, yet there is a consistent exploration of creating spaces with a sense of textural simplicity. 

Our practice works on projects across several different sectors including hospitality, single and multiple residential, large scale retail, corporate lobbies and office spaces. We are mindful of the context in which we are designing; an age that is increasingly digital and a community that is evermore narcissistic and detached. As designers, we can create spaces that counter this direction. Our key interest is developing spaces to align with the human requirement for wellbeing through the exploration of natural materials, textures, spatial volumes, context and detail. 

A key part of our ethos has been to contribute to the design industry. We design with a communal spirit and similarly believe contribution to the industry is essential. We have consistently chaired and participated in industry award panels over the years. 

Ongoing professional development for our own practice as well as our contribution to the profession is important to us because it makes us better designers. We hold fortnightly seminars in our studio featuring guest presenters for our team covering numerous topics from regulation, planning, buildability, materials and methodology to educate our team in the best and most relevant methodologies. We regularly tutor at and deliver lectures to University design programmes and sponsored student awards.

About the Project

Located within 9-15 Young Street the interiors form part of AMP Capital’s Quay Quarter Lanes precinct in Sydney’s Circular Quay. The project comprises of residential apartments, commercial spaces and their associated common areas. The interiors speak to the building’s form in cohesive creative conversation. 

Our design intent was to develop a concept which talks to the building’s architecture and responds to the site’s location on Sydney Harbour. The intention was for both the architecture and the interior design to be experienced as a whole, creating more of an immersion rather than the interiors simply being set within an architectural framework. 

The building has been designed to express solidity and depth through the use of solid masonry and deep angular reveals. Using this as the basis of our interiors concept, we developed a palette of sculptural chamfered details including angled stone to the kitchen islands and concierge desk, bevelled edging to joinery and stone panels, over scaled chamfered door jambs to the lifts and apartments entries as well as deeply pitched ceiling details to the common areas. This was to draw the architectural themes of depth and solidity into the more intimate scale of the interiors. Used in various iterations, this motif creates familiarity and cohesion throughout the space. 

We worked very closely with the client team, AMP Capital, to develop a detailed design response for the project which has specific qualities that respond uniquely to both the building architecture and the site context while working with a fixed construction budget and the constraints of a consumer-focused brief. 

The colour and finishes palette was selected to provide a serene respite to the urban location. Embedded in place through a rich materiality, the use of spotted gum lends a particular east coast Australian quality to the project. The timber was richly toned, and hand selected for grain attributes and contrasts with selection of granite with palettes exploring movement. The interiors selection work to maximise the reflection of daylight within the apartments and we gave a lot of thought to selections that would complement the varying furnishings of the final occupants. 

It was important that our finishes and detailing was durable and would remain relevant over time while continuing to be sustainability beneficially to both its occupants and the environment. Where possible the interior finishes used within the project are natural materials and are biodegradable, including the sustainably managed solid timbers and veneers used in the flooring and joinery elements, and the 100% wool carpeting used within the bedrooms. Bricks that were broken or damaged during the construction of the building façade were collected and incorporated into the interiors wall and floor finish of the ground floor lobbies. In this way products that would typically go to landfill was used to enhance the natural quality of the interior space.

Category: Place

Designers and Project Team:
Design Team:
Kirsten Stanisich, Director
Brenan McCloughan, Interior Designer
Beatrice Tung, Interior Designer

Builder / Developer: Richard Crookes Constructions
Project Manager: Richard Crookes Constructions
Architect: SJB
Landscape: Aspect Studios