Weeties Warehouse is The Bold and Playful Design Juxtaposes Texture
Situated within the heritage listed former Weeties Factory in North Fremantle, Spaceagency’s brief was to combine three existing standalone apartments into a unique family home.
The design cleverly resolves the need to appreciate and respect the heritage fabric, with the desire to bring nature, light and fresh air into the space. New glazed and translucent walls pull away from the industrial exterior, freeing the floor plan from the constraints of the heritage shell while reinstating the original warehouse volume. Light wells and thermal chimneys flood the space with light and fresh air, prioritising principles of environmental design over a maximised internal footprint, with one third of the floorplate being given over to a lush internal courtyard garden and its dark circular swimming hole.
Theatrical, dramatic and fun, this home is filled with surprise and delight. A sculptural spiral stair connects the living spaces to a hanging mezzanine over, allowing the original 5-meter volume to be experienced for the first time since its adaptive reuse in 1990. A bespoke 8-meter long timber island bench doubles as a dining table for 22 guests, and new steel portal framed openings in the brick wall connect the interior with the garden, bringing the outside in. The bold and playful design juxtaposes texture, light and colour to celebrate both the building’s history and its new life.
No ordinary warehouse, the Weeties building has shone its brightly painted signage over North Fremantle for decades. Spaceagency have taken on the project as a conversion into a family dwelling and made of it an equally extraordinary internal world. The design makes full use of the warehouse’s height, assembling three layers of rooms, a leafy courtyard, and a lofty, double volume living space. The detailing across the project is elegant and precise, striking a balance between the rawness of the warehouse’s heritage and an elevated refinement. One enters the warehouse into its voluminous living space, with the strong leading lines of an overhanging mezzanine and a linear kitchen directing the eye to a dramatic spiral staircase made of fine steel. Red curtains envelop a guest room above, amplifying the theatrical nature of the home. Spaces alternate between large and light, and deep and recessed, and tactile details delight throughout.
The project is structurally striking, largely suspending from existing beam systems, with new elements rarely touching ground or skin. Voids and offsets bring light and air to each room. With a plunge pool, a nested study, plush bathrooms, and bedrooms enveloping the original gantry, the project joyfully and adventurously embraces the unique nature of its setting.
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