INTERIOR DESIGN AND MAKING AN APARTMENT A ‘HOME’

In conversation with ARM Principal Amber Stewart on designing interior schemes for different BTR assets across the market, and how a sense of ‘home’ is created through sensitive approaches to colour, texture and high-quality finishes across both communal spaces and apartments.

What do BTR clients want in an interior scheme?

Amber Stewart (AS): It depends on the target clientele and the market level of the asset. Generally speaking, though, the client tends to favour something quite classic in nature, and it’s important the interior outcome visually stands the test of time. When the client drives the interior direction in a particular way, it’s not always about achieving an outcome that is ‘on trend’. It’s more important to achieve something that reflects the surrounding architectural style of the area.

Our interiors scheme across Realm Caulfield took clues from the architecture and mid-century detailing in the local Caulfield area. This included things like the selection of timber detailing for the kitchen joinery, and our selection of finished throughout the common areas.

Were the interiors designed in tandem with the external architecture across both the Realm Caulfield BTS and BTR assets?

AS: There are two separate parts to these interior spaces, the shared spaces, and the apartment buildings themselves. The shared common spaces had a direct relationship to the design of the architecture in their detailing and finishes. As you enter both buildings there is a generous feeling of space and a high level of finish. The overall lobby experience has a sense of arrival, and this is a big point of difference from other development in the area. These communal spaces were very much achieved in connection to the landscape and the common greenspaces around the apartment buildings.

The process of designing the interiors for the apartments themselves was more isolated from the architecture. I would meet with the developers, and we would workshop various finishes with their internal design manager. This process was also important in ensuring we reached the right price point, so we didn't need to do any value management later.

What is the importance of display suites in selling the experience of a BTR to customers?

AS: We created a display suite for the Realm Caulfield BTS asset which they called an ‘Experience Suite’. This was a standalone temporary building that offered prospective tenants the opportunity to explore a fully resolved apartment model, featuring our largest kitchen, and living room offering, plus a full bathroom and robes.

When people entered the space, they were taken through the large living and dining room which was raised up one step, so it really felt like they were entering an experience. We also fully furnished the suite with furniture and artwork to make it feel like home. While this type of experiential display suite isn’t overly common in BTR projects at the moment, I think there is great value in having them on site as a way of selling the quality of finishes and design details that people will enjoy in an apartment if they decide to rent in a particular asset.

What materials and finishes are desirable in an BTR interiors scheme to ensure minimal maintenance and asset longevity?

AS: Given you have a higher turnover of tenants in a BTR asset as opposed to a BTS, you approach the materials in a different way. You want to choose materials and finishes that allow you to give the apartments a quick face and inexpensive facelift when you need to. We always look at using things like large-format carpet tiles and timberlook vinyl planks in dining and kitchen areas that can be replaced as a single plank without needing to rip up the entire floor. Rather than doing a timber veneer finish for kitchens, I would look at doing something more robust like a laminate. Wherever there are areas you see the highest wear and tear in an apartment is where you need to think carefully about your material applications.

In the Launch Housing projects we have used a laminate or vinyl at the front of our entry doors rather than a painted finish, which is far more robust, but it still looks smart. We also used carpet tiles with a custom print through the corridors in these projects, though they’re used in a way that doesn’t look cheap and nasty.

How else does the interior scheme differ for social and affordable BTR housing projects like Viv's Place and Launch Bellfield?

AS: It’s more about considering the user’s physical and emotional experience of a space and providing an outcome that feels warm and comforting. The interiors for Bellfield were very strongly linked to the building’s architectural concept, referencing its timber façade. The foyer is a lumber cut-out with an oversized graphic grain running across the floors and the walls. The spaces off the entry also carry the warm honey colour of the timber facade. Overall, the interiors are more strongly linked to a design narrative that unites the interior and exterior of the building.

The apartments themselves also use colour and texture to define volumes of space. Charcoal grey on the balconies and living areas are contrasted against the warm honey tones of the kitchens and living areas, helping to define the different areas within studio apartments. This thematic is taken through to the bathroom in the grey tiles and honey plywood joinery. It’s probably quite unusual to see so much thought go into the interior experience in a social housing asset, but it’s important for us to link the architecture and the interiors so they feel cohesive and secure for residents as one seamless experience. We carefully considered the emotional experience of residents as they move through the space. We wanted to use colour to give them a sense of identity and homeliness, and warmth.

Is there any scope for tenants to customise their interiors in a BTR asset?

Tenants might have a choice between a light or dark apartment scheme, but generally anything further to this comes at an additional cost. When you’re building luxury apartments you can customise anything because the cost is not a priority. In BTR apartments however, your priority is achieving volume, and in doing so, you bring down the cost of material and finishes. From a builder’s perspective, you actually don’t want variation at all, you want as things to be as streamlined as possible.

What makes a BTR asset a home?

The common spaces are essential in creating a sense of home in a BTR project. They offer an additional amenity that you often you don’t get in a typical apartment building or social housing asset. Communal kitchens, leisure spaces and shared recreational areas allow residents to build a sense of community and belonging. While these amenities might exist to an extent in a traditional BTS asset, they are often rented out to external parties, and there isn’t actually an emphasis on using them as a community.