LIMEDROP INTERVIEW: Murray Barker December 13 2015
Today Limedrop had the honour of interviewing the delightful Murray Barker. His design work is awe-inspiring and we love his style! Check out his thoughts around space an light and see more of his work on his website.
Who you are? What do you do/ believe in? I'm Murray. I'm an Architect. I believe the quality of the space around us is really important. I'm often interested in considering simple things, informed my memories of places or trying to create an atmosphere that feels right for the client... like the way the sun might enter a room, or the way you might sit in a window. It is fun to be able to make these spaces for other people, to live out their lives. I also believe things should be made to last.
What are your top two tips to maximise the use of a small space? Storage! A small space needs a generous amount of built-in storage to hide all of the things you own. Otherwise you'll start to feel like a crazy person.
I also believe the way you connect a small space with the outside world is really important. Think carefully about the window and what it could be. How do you want to use it, where is the view, how does the sun move? How can you shift between exposure and privacy in a flexible way instead of the typical open vs closed option that a curtain provides? Think about shutters of all types and sizes, perforated screens, sliding panels, translucent materials, etc.If you can build flexibility into an opening, then you can adjust the atmosphere of the space depending on your mood, the weather or the time of day. In this way a small space won't always feel like the same old room- it will always be changing. My entire wall is made of large shutters which open and close. Some are solid, some admit light, and there's one typical little window in amongst it. I can open the space to a party in the lane or close it off like a mole.
What is something that you never thought would be possible that is now possible? Well it's not really something I thought was impossible, but being able to travel with such ease is a very modern luxury that I still think is pretty amazing. For me, traveling to a new place and just exploring is one of the greatest things. We can live our lives in Melbourne and disappear into another world for a few days or weeks or months and that is pretty damn good.