Kieran McInerney Architect

In association with d-Construct Architects and Jensen Young Architects

The protected microclimate and long view of the Sydney skyline across the water make Watsons Bay one of the most beautiful places in Sydney Harbour.

Watsons Bay Baths were built in 1905 and as part of the refurbishment completed in 2010 we have built world’s first wheelchair access to a tidal sea pool. New walkways and platforms give water access and open up new views of the harbour. A double hairpin access ramp and gangway descends to the new pontoon which is the primary access for swimmers including those with disabilities. The ramp immersed in the pontoon inspires water confidence, and ensures that users of all abilities can enter the water at the same location and in the same depth of water in any tidal situation.

The pontoon also avoids oyster encrustation and promotes seagrass growth by locating swimmer access away from fragile seagrass beds. Mesh floors admit light to the seabed while the panelised shark-net creates and protects seahorse habitats.This new yellow pontoon floating in Watsons Bay Baths is a place for all to gather and enjoy the harbour. Watson Bay Baths was short-listed in the 2011 AIA awards.

Still and time lapse photography: Murray Fredericks

Architecture by Kieran McInerney Architect
Interiors by Tribe Studio

Careful renovation and restoration was carried out in order to convert the iconic food and culinary supply store, The Bay Tree in Paddington. The aim was to transform the small terrace into a spacious and inviting general store, adding a car space and substantially increasing the floor area.

Photography by Murray Fredericks

Australian Pavilion 11th International Architecture Exhibition la Biennale di Venezia 2008.

When invited to contribute to the exhibition we chose to develop a farmhouse oasis in a typical Australian harsh, complex climate. The site has long views from a hill dotted with granite boulders and eucalyptus trees down to the patchwork of agriculture on the plains. The new house wraps the existing rooms and vegetation; protecting them from the climate and the landscape from them. Farm buildings and infrastructure are incorporated to share and care for resources, and reduce footprint. Water tanks are placed in and under the building to improve water quality and act as thermal mass for summer coolth and winter warmth.

Wall filters mediate light, wind, dust, insects, bushfire and energy. A tent of potable quality roofing steel efficiently harvests clean rainwater. The orchard impluvium beneath is a green, moist filter for fragile humans and culture. Most imported fauna and flora does not survive this climate but some thrive with devastating effect. In this building the material and detritus of imported agriculture and domesticity is composed into an interior of resources, culture and technology.

November 20, 2017

Many of the most delightful and desirable places to live are high density.  Many people and activities in a small area. When you see a memorable  movie with character, narrative and wisdom; it is generally in the dense, intense layered city. (The suburbs tend to be documented in TV sit-coms…)

Despite this, there is much resistance to new high density developments.In Australia the term “high density housing” has negative connotations for citizens, councils and builders, and even for architects and developers.

My study is a valentine to the shared and daily pleasures and comforts of high density living.

The high-density image problem
High-density environments have the capacity to solve current crises of international housing shortage, housing affordability, lack of infrastructure and loss of arable land. But high-density developments are often unwelcome. low quality  high-density  environments  are routinely used as a backdrop for stories of urban strife and degradation. They are commonly seen as a necessary evil, a  technical solution to a numerical problem;  not as ideal human inhabitation.

On the other hand many people wish to live in cities where they can walk or bicycle to restaurants, cafes, parks, markets and museums. And scenes of big city life are also the chosen setting for movies depicting complex relationships of family, belonging and identity. In short, we want a high density of culture and services but are apprehensive of possible outcomes from high-density developments. Thus, new high-density buildings are generally unwelcome.

Some of the best built environments are high-density environments
“High Density Pleasure” is the record of a  international study tour of high-density environments that challenge many current perceptions by being highly desirable places to inhabit.

Selection Criteria
A range of ancient, twentieth-century and contemporary environments were considered. Venice was chosen; the most beautiful city in the world. Perugia as an ancient Italian hill town with an important regional and ceremonial role. Barceloneta as a compact and astonishingly dense quarter of Barcelona..  The Quartier de L’Europ in Paris was documented. “Piraeus”; a large dockside building in Amsterdam  as an exemplary contemporary project. “Hornbaekhus” an early 20th century block in Copenhagen was selected for the serene qualities of its generous courtyard. And the most recent project; “House 8”; a large, ambitious and well-publicised block in Copenhagen.