Kenzai Wins on Sustainability

By Nicola Smith on February 4, 2021 in News

Many small changes can tilt the equation. Photo: Sharrin Rees

South Coogee interior designer Jacqueline Bosscher has won the Best Alterations category in the Randwick Architecture and Urban Design Awards for family home, Kenzai.
Ms Bosscher said she was excited to enter the local awards because of the creatively designed homes found across the Eastern Suburbs.
“There are so many beautiful houses around here and so many great architects working with amazing views and spaces,” Ms Bosscher told The Beast.
“Entering an award always causes you to reflect on your work and the judging panel was so diverse. The judges all asked me very different questions, which I appreciated,” she explained.
Kenzai is built across three levels on a sloping street overlooking the ocean. Ms Bosscher’s design includes no painted surfaces, choosing instead to cover walls and ceilings with a mix of tiles, wood panelling and acoustic panelling, all of which take longer to install but are far more durable than paint.
The home’s entrance was relocated from the garage to an enclosed courtyard with a swimming pool and rock garden.
Ms Bosscher opened up airflows in the space by including a perforated metal bridge in the top floor and increased natural light in the house with the use of frosted glass doors between rooms.
Sustainability is key to Ms Bosscher’s design process, which included insulating the whole house for better heat regulation, using sustainable materials such as 70 per cent recycled acoustic panelling and putting a concrete cap on the old swimming pool to create a 20,000-litre water tank.
“Because it was a big project in sustainability, I felt like the judges appreciated that,” Ms Bosscher said of her award win.
Sustainability sits closely with her prioritisation of functionality across all her design projects, which mostly include residential spaces.
“I start by looking at air flows, people flows in a space, then I think about how light and heat flow through it. Functionality comes first, and then the aesthetics meet that,” Ms Bosscher said.
She hopes to show people that sustainable design can be aesthetically pleasing and also an affordable choice when designing a home.
“It is possible to find environmentally friendly products that are middle of the road price-wise and also beautiful, which is what you want your home to be – healthy, affordable and beautiful,” Ms Bosscher explained.
Ms Bosscher’s sustainable philosophy to life has also led to an environmental initiative called Live the Difference Now! The initiative coordinates community clean-ups and offers tips for more sustainable living, inspiring people to take small steps now to make a cumulative change for the environment.
Ms Bosscher said the idea came from the stress she felt about the environmental crisis facing the world, so she started small by picking up rubbish as she walked her dog.
“It’s amazing, picking up a bucket of rubbish a day had a great impact on my wellbeing, and I soon discovered how many people are doing similar things to try and help,” she told The Beast.
Ms Bosscher’s philosophy is that many small changes can help tilt the equation into the environment’s favour and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
“It’s exactly what I try to do with my design clients too; show them small choices they can make to mitigate their impact on the world.”
Check out Jacqueline’s Instagram at @livethedifferencenow and @thedesigncommission.