Akira and Sarah

“At Nightingale … it feels like everyone’s in it for the long haul.”

After two years of sweltering in a badly insulated Perth unit, Akira and his partner Sarah were looking for a more comfortable experience. They bought a one-bedroom apartment in the Nightingale Fremantle complex and have found it an ideal match for their needs.

Akira was born and raised in Japan. He met Sarah when they were both studying in Melbourne. When Sarah landed a role as a curator at PICA, they moved to Perth, and rented a two-bedroom apartment that had been built without consideration for the local climate. “That became abundantly clear, really quickly. In the height of summer, you basically had to have the AC on day and night. It felt very poorly insulated; the quality of the build itself was lacking – there were units crammed into a block meant for one house. It just felt very slapdash. They felt like investment properties, meant for tenants who would pay off the owner’s mortgage.” When Akira and Sarah began to think about buying their own apartment, they heard about Nightingale Fremantle and were instantly attracted.

Friends in Melbourne had told them about the Nightingale builds there, and a close friend had bought into the Preston project. “Many of our peers are interested in Nightingale because of the ideals of livability, community, concern for environment and sustainability – it’s aligned to what we’re all thinking about. For us it was a no-brainer.” Akira is an artist whose practice encompasses sculpture and installation. “Wherever we move, my art practice comes with us, and using a studio outside of our living arrangement may or may not be possible.” Lately, he’s moved into textiles and needlepoint so that his artworks can be more portable, but even so, the couple’s Nightingale apartment had to accommodate his workspace. Sarah also sometimes works from home. They studied the floorplan to make sure their wall of bookshelves and Akira’s desk could fit in the space. Although their apartment is one of the most compact in the block, they haven’t felt crowded. Their terrace, which is ringed by bamboo and cottonwood, citrus and olive trees, creates a feeling of space and seclusion. “Even though we’re facing the public area, it feels quite private. The orientations of the apartments don’t overlap, so no one’s directly facing each other.”

When Akira and Sarah bought into Nightingale, they were less interested in economic factors than in their quality of life. “Summer in WA is super intense, but it felt manageable here. And winters can be cold, maybe because the housing stock in Perth isn’t particularly geared to the colder weather. But last winter, we felt really comfortable, really cosy and warm. I don’t think we turned the heating on once. In the summer, we used AC during the really intense period over late January and February, when it was hitting top temperatures in the mid-40s – but nowhere near as frequently as we did in our previous unit.”

The Nightingale ethos of community was also a significant factor in the couple’s choice. “We know that our neighbours have made similar decisions about how they want to live. If you’re a renter in a complex, your neighbours change quite frequently, even with the low vacancy rate in Perth. At Nightingale, it’s owner-occupied, so it feels like everyone’s in it for the long haul.” Akira enjoys the regular busy bees with his neighbours. “It’s nice. It’s not something you could do in another type of apartment complex. It really does require a sense of the collective, a communal spirit. It’s just another part of what we all do, like putting the recycling out on a certain night – it’s built-in, so it doesn’t feel forced.”

Written by Rose Mulready