Duplex & The City is a project designed in 2015 by Luigi Rosselli and is located in Potts Point, Australia. Photography by Justin Alexander, Edward Birch.

Equivalent to the brownstones of New York, this interwar duplex is a humane scale solution to housing in the Sydney city fringes.

Shoulder to shoulder with other apartment buildings, the original 1920s two-storey flats were transformed into a four storey block with a basement carpark and cellar, a ground floor garden apartment and a two-storey penthouse.

Just forty-percent of the existing structure was demolished, mainly the dysfunctional rooms at the back of the property, which were replaced by a modern four-storey structure.

The front of the property, with its original Queen Anne leadlight windows, liver toned brickwork and timber shingles, was left intact to preserve the building?s consistency with the prevailing style of the street. No one would believe that behind those refined front rooms the apartments would morph into modern open living spaces with generous terraces that allow the inhabitants to admire the views of the city, populated with skyscrapers designed by Renzo Piano, Sir Norman Foster and Ingenhoven Architects, and enjoy glimpses of Sydney Harbour beyond.
The duality of the design also reflects the personalities of the residents: urbane and loaded with old world culture and family history, yet passionate about modern art, architecture and urban living. Here the inte...