Lime Street Skin Clinic in Barangaroo by Jason Byrne Design.

Jason Byrne Design (JBD) welcomes us to Lime Street, a newly completed skin clinic located within Sydney’s Barangaroo. Commissioned at the time when Australia and the rest of the world were just beginning to navigate the effects of Covid-19, the brief called for a skin clinic that would feel different to the rest of the market, offering a rich, seductive palette.

The blank canvas presented itself via a former office over two levels, with a terrace that offered teasing glimpses of King Street Wharf and the harbour beyond.

“The palette we proposed celebrates my memories of Saturday afternoons curled up on the family sofa watching classic American crime dramas from the late ’70s and ’80s,” explains Byrne. “Franks and Jessicas solved seemingly endless cases [within] rich interiors I still love and remember fondly. I loved the confidence and sometimes decadence of these sets and wanted to create spaces that spoke to them.”

Lime Street presents a paired back architectural solution as a relief to the rich interior finishes. The design celebrates inner confidence and individuality. Architectural curves soften the square floorplate, reflecting the natural beauty of the clinic’s clients. The curves come in all shapes and sizes too, echoing our individual curves.

JBD created two distinct client journeys – one that cocoons and soothes, offering opportunities for relaxation and quiet introspection within treatment spaces, while the other provides dynamic spaces catering to shorter treatment times.

“It was important that the interiors should subconsciously read as Covid-19 safe, without explicitly calling out features that appeared overly separated, sanitised or clinical,” explains Byrne. Within treatment spaces, metal stools allow for easy sanitising between clients, while in common areas individual walnut seating provides personal space with access for cleaning and sanitising between clients too. “On the upper level, we introduced a circulation drum allowing clients and staff to pass each other safely in these new normal times. These softly curved common spaces are wrapped in rich walnut,” says Byrne.

Walnut, marble and spaces coloured in deep red, green, navy and charcoal velvets create a sense of luxury, drama and quiet repose. The monochromatic approach allows for the layering of material choices, providing play between rich and plain, matte and shine, hard and soft.

Related: ‘Tanning in The City’ Salon in Seoul by Studio Fragment.

[Images courtesy of Jason Byrne Design. Photography by Traianos Pakioufakis.]