The team at Sadie Snelson Architects envisioned an open-plan living room to accentuate the full potential of the warehouse’s space. Dividing walls were removed and parts of the floor were taken away to create double-height areas that maximise light. A new mezzanine floor was added with a steel balustrade and folded steel staircase.

Materials used throughout the property are intended to complement its industrial nature. Walls are left unpainted to expose the plaster finish, and structural I-beams are left exposed. The architects designed the concrete kitchen that the client cast himself. 

Architect:  Sadie Architects
Photos:  Rory Gardiner

The inside of this 1930s water tower-turned-house, however, gleams white and smooth all around – quintessentially modern despite the non-linear walls and minimalist metal spiral staircases, curves that dominate each space within this completely remodeled cylinder.

Steel, concrete and glass form the basic material palette used by Zecc in this incredible contemporary home conversion – and these choices do help to transition from the aged rustic style of the preserved facade to the modern interior spaces, but they are nonetheless almost as different as can be.

The water tower is spread over nine levels. Many challenges are faced in the design: letting more daylight in and strengthening the relationship with the back courtyard by inserting a three-level high window frame; maintaining the interiorâ€s industrial characteristics by working with materials like steel, concrete and glass; and in the tower, ensuring an effective, efficient layout for several small round rooms that lay one on top of the other, while preserving the towerâ€s spaciousness.