A home built around music
Creating a bespoke music hub for an extensive collection of vinyl records and CDs became the focal point of this stylish renovation that hit all the right notes for this family of three.
When Kristy and Mark first sat down with architect Chris Rowlands to discuss their home renovation, music organically evolved into the centrepiece of the project.
Both Mark and Kristy are music lovers, regularly watching live music at events ranging from intimate club and pub shows to large festivals, and everything in between. Mark also has an extensive collection of vinyl records and CDs and a beloved turntable.
“Music is central to our lives,” Kristy says. “The minute Mark and I get home we put music on. Depending on who gets home first, that defines what we will be listening to.”
Mark, who is part of the executive team at a South Australian not-for-profit, has been collecting music in various formats since his school days, and while his cassettes are no longer in high rotation, his vinyl and CDs are played daily.
At last count, Mark’s CD collection is in excess of 1000 while his vinyl collection (across 12-inch, 10-inch and seven-inch formats) is around 500.
“My frequency of purchases and purchasing patterns have fluctuated over time and I try to be quite selective in what I purchase these days,” says Mark, who is a particular fan of punk music.
Having music as a key part of his clients’ daily lives was something that resonated with architect Chris, who is also a music lover.
“It was quite obvious from the first meeting that music was important, the record player was on the kitchen bench next to a selection of vinyl,” says Chris, who is director of RAD-Studio. “I saw albums of some of my favourite bands in the mix, it was such an epic collection worth celebrating.
“That’s where we reflected on some of the past time experiences, sorting through albums we missed and how we can bring that into the home as a social hub in the living area, anchored in sound and memory.”
Music is now at the heart of this home through the bespoke music hub which is the focal point of this open plan home renovation.
The hub includes easy-access shelving for the turntable, amplifier, CD player and speakers, multiple drawers designed to perfectly fit Mark’s albums and CDs, plus bookshelves either end of the unit to show off the couple’s music-related books and box sets.
But perhaps the biggest talking point of the new design is the display racks on the wall which hold up to 10 albums.
On the day SALIFE visits, there is an entire row dedicated to Joe Strummer and The Clash albums, as well as some records by hardcore punk outfit Avail.
“Having the music wall as the centrepiece of our living area has been fantastic, everything we hoped it would be,” Mark says.
“The process of browsing through the collection and selecting an album on CD or vinyl to play in its entirety is so enjoyable and engaging.
“We love doing that at every opportunity rather than scrolling through streaming service content on a phone or tablet, as convenient as that can sometimes be.
“The display shelves on the music wall are akin to an inbuilt art installation – one that we can change whenever we want. The colours, designs and images on the album covers act as individual artworks and splashes of creativity to be celebrated and enjoyed amongst the otherwise calm and neutral palette we opted for.
“Sometimes we won’t alter it for weeks at a time, other times months. We don’t follow a routine or pattern; we simply display what we feel like. Sometimes an upcoming tour will prompt us to pull out a complete collection and display that in the lead up to the show. Or nostalgia in relation to a classic band or artist might kick in. We particularly love The Clash and Ramones releases in our collection.”
Kristy, a teacher, says the music wall also deliberately draws attention away from the television in the open plan living space.
“Chris could see how we lived, and he knew that our lives don’t revolve around the TV,” she says. “It’s great that the focal point is Mark’s vinyl as the art.”
The couple bought the three-bedroom inner-southern suburbs home in 2011, moving from a townhouse in Mile End which Kristy described as “super fun, but busy”.
“We were near the Thebarton Theatre, and we loved our local pub, The Wheatsheaf, but we were right in the flight path and wanted to move to a quieter neighbourhood,” she says.
Mark, who grew up in nearby Lower Mitcham, just happened to drive past this property when it was on the market and he and Kristy could see its potential, despite the compact 392-square-metre block.
The character home, which was built in the early 1900s, had been renovated in the 1980s, but the design didn’t allow for natural light, with pokey spaces and an old pergola to the rear shading the living areas.
It was when daughter Ella arrived in 2014 that Kristy and Mark began to discuss renovation plans, as the liveability of the home became a concern.
“In the corner outside, we used to have a huge gum tree, which was a really beautiful tree, but a couple of branches came down when I was outside with Ella as a baby and it was just too unpredictable, so we knew that had to go,” Kristy says.
“We also just wanted maximum natural light and a house that flowed from inside to outside.
“We knew we wanted to really open it up, because it felt really boxy.”
It was after visiting friends and seeing projects by RAD-Studio that the couple reached out to Chris.
The initial challenge was how to design a practical, light-filled home with plenty of storage and an indoor/outdoor flow on such a tight block.
Chris, working with his colleague John Bosco Yu, came up with an unconventional approach, which involved utilising a lane that runs along the side of the property.
In the new floorplan, the laneway acts as a secondary entry point to the home via a new side gate and garden.
This reorientates the new living spaces to the north, which are now flooded with natural light via glass doors and windows.
“Challenges always end up creating the best opportunities,” Chris says. “The most obvious one is that the access lane is to the north. It came across as very ‘back of house’.
“The challenge was to reimagine it as a secondary frontage to the home that manages a social threshold but also is our opportunity to get northern light into their private space and the house itself.
“This move also enables passive solar gain, allowing winter sunlight to penetrate deep into the interior.”
An added bonus of the laneway usage is how it has opened up an unexpected connection to the community for Mark, Kristy and Ella.
“We use the gate four or five times a day and Ella is now using the laneway for games,” Kristy says.
“She’ll draw four-square games with chalk out there and she’ll also play with her friends, hitting the tennis ball against the wall or taking her freestanding netball ring out into the space for shooting practice. The laneway is also where Ella learned to ride her bike, skateboard and roller skate.
“Lots of people stop and chat to us as well so it’s had this unexpected social benefit of connection.”
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Chris says: “Opening to the laneway rather than the traditional street front fosters a connection and reinstates the laneway as a place of interaction and belonging.
“When we were on site, we noticed a much slower pace of pedestrian traffic and cyclists who would stop to chat. It was very cool to see that more of the community was inclined to engage in conversation through the slower paced thoroughfare.”
When it came to the new design of spaces, Chris again concentrated on how the family lives. As well as albums and CDs, Mark is also a serious wine collector, so a wine cellar had to be incorporated into the plans.
“My love of wine and part-time involvement in the industry started a little later than my love of music, but the collection has been growing over roughly 20 years so far and has now reached the point where, similar to CDs and vinyl, purchases are more selective than they used to be,” Mark says.
To house the wine collection, a cellar was dug out during the renovation process and, in a nice nod to what went before, recycled red bricks from the house demolition have been used to create the cellar floor.
Kristy describes her family as “very outdoorsy”, so storage for recreational equipment including camping gear, mountain bikes, surfboards and boogie boards, also had to be included in the plans.
A new garage, accessed via the side lane, solves all storage issues and leads directly into the house via the laundry.
Kristy and Mark were also mindful to create an energy efficient home and have installed multiple solar panels on the roof, and provision has also been made in the new garage to plug in their electric car.
When it came to the look and feel of the new interiors, Kristy says they opted for “woods and whites”.
“We wanted lots of natural materials and neutral colours and we also love exposed red brick,” she says. “We didn’t want anything that was going to date – any of the latest trends – just a design that would stand the test of time.
“I also wanted something that was easy to clean so, more than asking us what we wanted, Chris just asked us how we live and what we do and what’s important to us. Then his design came back, and we really didn’t have to change much at all.”
The original part of the home has also been updated, including the addition of an en suite to the master bedroom.
The old and new blend seamlessly and the overall result is a modern renovation that showcases natural materials including polished concrete flooring, timber cladding and ply ceilings. Soaring ceiling heights with high aperture windows add to the light, airy ambiance and sense of space and flow.
The new living spaces open onto the garden and side laneway, bringing in natural light and a sense of flow.
Lighting choices, all from Allera Lights, add subtle pops, particularly the Unios Titanium Starlight cluster in various sizes above the dining table.
The newly-created side entry also includes a beautiful garden created by Justin Walkden at Habitat Landscaping Services. Kristy and Mark had some input into plant choices, and one plant in particular holds emotional significance for Kristy – a fragrant jasmine vine planted in honour of her late mother Suzy.
“The smell of jasmine really reminds me of Mum,” Kristy says. “Ella didn’t get to meet her, but we talk about her often, and she’s got that little connection to us through the jasmine, too. I just feel like she’s here with us.
“Mum saw the house and helped us when we moved in, but she didn’t get to see the renovation.”
The outdoor space, with its curved brick seating, decking, lawn area and built-in barbecue zone works perfectly for entertaining and Kristy says their home has become the regular venue for family celebrations.
“Mark will be out here cooking the barbecue and people will either be standing on the deck or sitting along the brick seating area,” she says.
“That’s actually Mark’s favourite spot on the brick bench. He comes and sits out here first thing in the morning with our dog Cleo, and has his coffee, that’s how he starts every day.”
The renovation process took 18 months, undertaken by Henry Construct, and the project received both a Good Design Award and a commendation in the SA Architecture Awards this year.
But the real winner here is the way this home has been designed around the lifestyle and loves of those who live here.
“When I’m standing in the kitchen, I can see out both ways and it is spectacular during jacaranda season, when I can see all the purple trees,” Kristy says.
“We can also see storms rolling in and, from the top windows in the kitchen, at certain times of the year you can see the moon when you are eating dinner.”
Architect Chris says that in creating Mark and Kristy’s house, he learnt that while the world is getting faster, it is possible to slow things down through clever design.
“This house seems to provide an opportunity to slow everything down and really connect with experiences,” he says. “Reflecting on the music store past time of flicking through albums, reading covers, lyrics and appreciating the artworks has been distilled by streaming.
“Having a nice little outdoor perch in winter where you can sit in the morning sun and have your coffee, or playing tennis against the wall in the lane that stops people for conversation. As much as the house is light and energetic it also gets us to slow down to engage publicly and privately.”
Mark says the RAD team perfectly nailed the brief in creating a light-filled and energy-efficient home with a seamless connection between indoors and outdoors – a space that also celebrates music and the joy it brings to their daily life.
“Natural light is in abundance thanks to north facing windows, with heating or cooling only required in the most extreme of conditions,” he says. “Our backyard is truly an extension of our living area and our home is filled with music each and every day.
“The cellar space is great fun to descend into and select a wine to match with dinner or to celebrate a special occasion. We couldn’t be happier with the overall finished product and its functionality.”
This article first appeared in the December 2025 issue of SALIFE magazine.
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