Surry Hill House by Anthony Gill Architects.

Image: Peter Bennetts

Sydney Living Museums is holding a series of fascinating talks over eight Thursday nights from 12 September to 31 October 2013 at the Mint. The series is entitled Open Talks: Rooms in the House and brings together architects, historians and social commentators to explore and discuss how the design, use and relationship of different rooms in the home have changed over time – from the demise of formal living rooms to the changing nature of kitchens and bathrooms – and what these changes say about us as people and societies.

Karen McCartney, editorial consultant and author.

Karen McCartney (author, design editor) traces the taking down of the living room walls as a room once reserved for guests and special occasions merged into a communal family space for everyday use. Taking local examples from her Iconic Australian Houses series and the research for her forthcoming book The Super House, Karen McCartney looks at how architects have interpreted the living room over the past sixty years through degrees of integration with dining rooms and kitchens, and an increased emphasis on linking living spaces to the outdoors. She discusses her own experience living in a 1960s house, designed by Bruce Rickard, as an example of building form moving away from the postwar design of master bedroom and living room facing the street, and the importance of siting the living areas towards north to capture light and warmth. This presentation will show how radical changes in the approach to living spaces since the 1950s have shaped the design thinking for how we live today.

Anthony Gill, architect.

Anthony Gill (Anthony Gill Architects) draws on his experience as an architect designing homes in the inner-city suburbs of Sydney to explore the potential of contemporary living spaces. Citing a range of projects including his Potts Point Apartment, where a small one bedroom unit is re-imagined to suit his own young family, he will suggest that the living space, by definition, is endlessly flexible. Further, that it is this flexibility that helps people live comfortably in increasingly dense cities, and provides the richness required to live well.

3 October 2013
6.30–8.00 pm
The Mint
Bookings essential.
$30 general, $25 concession/members
Information & bookings