BARDWELL PARK Located in Sydney’s Bardwell Park, this family home designed sanctuary reflects an immersive understanding of its site, surroundings and the people who live within. Designed by 868 Architects and constructed by Hammercorp, Project Sole is shaped by a sense of calm, privacy and long-term liveability. From the first travertine pillar to the custom steel roofline, each detail is grounded in material richness and meaning, culminating in a home that invites its occupants to slow down, engage and stay connected.
Framed by leafy street trees on a corner block, the family home designed sanctuary makes an immediate impression through considered forms and layered thresholds. A large bronze pivot door signals arrival with deliberate weight, while the travertine, glass curves and open voids ease visitors into the rhythm of the interior. These design choices, including a central skylight and the playful integration of the pool into the architecture, balance grandeur with softness and movement. Curves throughout – gentle and consistent – help define the private and public zones without disruption, guiding inhabitants through their day at a gentler pace.
This is a family home designed sanctuary with intention. Interiors draw upon durable materials and tactile textures, not just for aesthetic longevity, but to meet the needs of a growing family. Joinery, bronze fixtures and Knotwood aluminium features are employed with both practicality and atmosphere in mind. Steel framing, used throughout, is expressed as both a visual feature and structural device, enabling large expanses of glazing and a floating roofline that brings in northern light across the living areas.
Throughout this family home designed sanctuary, the landscape complements the architectural gestures with lush planting and open air connections. While the pool serves as a visual and social axis for the home, more private garden moments are tucked into courtyards and transitional zones. Together, they evoke the emotional language of a holiday – a core inspiration shared by the clients when first engaging with 868 Architects. Their dream of creating a year-round sanctuary was grounded in real-life use: play, rest, connection and retreat.
As a family home designed sanctuary, Project Sole transcends trend to deliver something deeply personal yet universally resonant. It is an environment where materials express mood, space nurtures stillness, and design fosters long-term belonging. For the family who now calls it home, every morning begins with light, nature and the sense of pause – a luxury woven into the fabric of everyday life.
00:00 – Introduction to the Family Home 01:05 – Walking Through the Home 02:40 – Materiality and the Beauty of Durability 04:50 – Reflections on Design and Living
Photography by Andreas Bommert. Architecture and interior design by 868 Architects. Build and development by Hammercorp. Landscape design by Sydney City Landscapes. Joinery by Joinery X. Engineering by AE Consulting Engineers. Aluminium profiles by Knotwood. Filmed and edited by The Local Production. Production by The Local Production.
Location: Bardwell Park, New South Wales, Australia
The Local Project acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land in Australia. We recognise the importance of Indigenous peoples in the identity of our country and continuing connections to Country and community. We pay our respect to Elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Indigenous people of these lands.
The size of these spaces, the dimensions of these rooms, wasn't really at the forefront of their
mind. What really mattered was that feeling of sanctuary. My name is Lauren Garth and I am a
senior designer at 868 Architects. We were the architect and interior designer on Project Soul.
The location of Project Soul is located on a corner block surrounded by some beautiful
canopy trees that line the streets here and it really gives it that character to the suburb.
When I was first introduced to this community I was met with warmth and that strong sense of family.
Someone coming first to this home, we're going to be met with one of our first stone travertine
pillars. As you walk through the front gate it leads you to the front door, a large grand bronze
pivot door. The idea of such a large door was to feel how heavy that is and to create that instant
stop in your movement and to be quite slow. Once you move through the home you're hit with a
beautiful round skylight just above you. Sometimes like today you can see the clouds through that.
As you start to move down those stairs it kind of gives you this playful feeling that we decided to
bring the pool within the home through this beautiful glass curve. It gives you that feeling of
nature, the way that the water moves and the choice of using that barley stone tile taking back in
that holiday feeling. As you arrive at the kitchen, dining and living platform you really feel the
expanse of the height of the home. Here we've got about four meter high ceilings and the intention
of that was to really meet at this point. The building starts to open up but then you're getting
both sides of that sanctuary. It's a mixture and a blend of that private and public space where that
inner courtyard is seeking more of that private space, where the oasis is more of that public
entertaining platform. There's two main radiuses in these curves. The larger ones you see are more
in the public spaces and these smaller radiuses are within the private zones. What these curves
achieve is that sense of slowing down. You're not meeting a sharp edge and it slowly guides you
around to the next space. When designing a family home you're not just designing spaces for anyone,
you get to meet your clients, you get to meet their family, you get to meet their children
and you understand the spaces that they are going to grow up in. Durable materials is so important
to consider because it needs to stand the test of time with that family and the use of that home.
Knotwood aluminium is unique because of the range of finishes that it offers.
Whether it is on a gate, a soffit, a cladding system on a garage, you know that the product
that you're seeing on the day of installation is really going to stand the test of time.
When we're looking at design and functionality within Project Soul,
there was a few items that came up. Definitely privacy was one, being on a corner block.
I love a glass that wraps around to achieve that sense of privacy but also getting enough
natural light within the home. The shape and form derive from the natural topography,
the way that the resident steps down throughout the site, the use of those travertine pillars
that you see. Those pillars really come down and ground the home. The use of brick, steel and
cladding systems was very important. We wanted to look and see how starting your morning here
can really bring in that sunlight, how we could get as much sun as possible onto that central pool
as well as the oasis space. We wanted to create those aesthetics of that calm sanctuary feeling
but we needed to ensure that these products could last, being a forever family home.
The steelwork catches your eye when you're first on the corner block and you see that wrap around
the home. Then what's interesting is how that then bleeds into the interior spaces. The choice
of using a bronze powder coated finish as well was incorporated into the internal fixtures. So
every fixture that you see within that home is a bronze plated fixture that also has a textural
material to it. The use of custom steel came about from wanting to create a very thin roof line.
We wanted the feeling of the roof to be floating and to really appreciate the high level lazing
that wraps around the home. Working on Project Soul with Hammer Corp was quite interesting and
surprising. If there were any challenges or obstacles they were met with solutions on the spot.
We became quite honest and trustworthy to one another. It is a really enriching experience
seeing the family make this home their own. When we first met and the family was telling us about
what holidays mean to them, seeing them now moving to their home
and being here for quite some time, I approached them and they told me
I got to feel like I'm on holiday every day and we still haven't booked one yet.
