Many architects visit the project site. Klaus and Nicholas Carson Kelly, principals of Studio Carson Kelly, moved into their own. For a full year, the couple lived inside the Victorian terrace that would become James Jr. – studying its light, its failure, its hidden power – before drawing a single line of redesign. That decision shows.
Located in a leafy inner-city area of Sydney near Centennial Park, the project takes a narrow terrace – less than four meters wide – and transforms it into something that commands attention.
The programming logic is sharp. A staircase with dog legs folds the laundry into its own structure and dissolves unnecessary passages completely, so that the movement becomes part of the structure rather than something cramped around it. Each first floor room occupies the full width of the boundary to the boundary of the site. Nothing is wasted; nothing feels vulnerable.
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Light is the most powerful element of the project. A border-to-border skylight in the center draws the daylight deep into what can easily be read as a dark, depressed area. Clerestory glazing conveys this further, ensuring that the house appears to breathe differently from what its footprint suggests. In the afternoon, the light changes and the spaces soften – the new feels familiar, almost inevitable.
The material palette is tightly controlled and deliberately contrasted. The customized brick format moves easily from exterior to courtyard to interior buildings, dissolving the boundary between interior and exterior. Underfoot, a field of patchwork terrazzo catches the light and changes tone throughout the day. The kitchen brings a combination of mirrored against stainless steel – bright, functional, harmonious – reinforced with a floating stone slab that serves simultaneously as a dining table, an island, and a community center.
The bathrooms transform into something more immersive: a stone that is folded and varied in proportion to all the mosaics, long formats, and large slabs. A circular glass brick aperture in the master bedroom filters the light into a different light. The master ensuite sits under a full skylight open to the sky and trees – a moment when the interior and the garden melt into one.
Then there’s the art and style – which is worth talking about. The graphic choices are inspired and dynamic, presenting a pleasing point of architectural intensity. Dina Grinberg’s photography, designed by Nicholas Carson Kelly, captures the home with an unassuming, lived-in quality — the kind of “wake up” ease that makes a well-resolved space feel uninhabited and relative, rather than intact.
“Built in a space less than four meters wide, the project redefines clarity,”said Klaus and Nicholas Carson Kelly of Studio Carson Kelly.“Instead of resisting narrow measures, we have accepted – we are dismantling the construction of its important measures.”
Little James says it well: important steps, taken with confidence.
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[Images courtesy of Studio Carson Kelly. Styling by Nicholas Carson Kelly. Photography by Dina Grinberg.]