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LIVING THE HIGH LIFE Apartment living was once considered a poor man’s option but times are changing as buyers at the higher end of the market seek apartment residences that provide space, views and style along with all the convenience and cosmopolitan attractions of an inner city location. Mat Ward talks to the architects that are pushing the boundaries to deliver a new level of genuine luxury and innovative design in high density living
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O NE C ENT R AL PA R K W ES T, DES IGN: S MAR T DES IGN S T U DIO , IM AGES : S H AR R IN R EES
A
ustralians
Zealanders
because its people didn’t live in flats, making
apartments and apartment dwellers began
ambivalence
them much finer physical and moral specimens
to change. No longer exclusively a rental
towards high-density living. With the
than Europeans. At a time when high-rise
proposition, the groundwork was established
proverbial ‘dream’ of a house on a quarter-acre
apartment
proliferating
for the apartment to take its place alongside
block an integral part of our respective national
throughout Australia’s major urban centres,
its quarter-acre cousin in our dreams and
mythologies, we have often viewed city living,
the implication was that if people kept building
aspirations. Over the past four years, the
be it in a terraced house or an apartment, with
them, it would become a country of immoral
share of total dwelling approvals for units and
suspicion. Writing in the 1920s, Charles Bean,
weaklings, ripe for invasion.
apartments has risen dramatically, from just 25
have
a
and
New
history
of
buildings
were
the historian credited with coining the term
With the introduction of strata titles
per cent in mid-2009 to 43 per cent currently.
‘the Anzac legend’, proposed that the reason
to Australia and New Zealand in the late
Some urban demographers predict that within
Australia produced such excellent soldiers was
1960s, however, the negative perception of
30 years, 45 per cent of Sydney households will be living in a unit or apartment. ‘Ten to 15 years ago people often wanted a house, but had an apartment because that’s all they could afford. Now, people want apartments,’ says William Smart of Sydney-based architectural practice, Smart Design Studio. ‘It’s a lifestyle choice – you can have enough space to live comfortably and at the same time get the benefit of being close to transport, the city’s amenities and its culture.’ Smart designed the interior fit-outs for One Central Park West, one of the latest additions to Sydney’s increasingly stratospheric skyline. A 16-floor, 230-apartment complex in Sydney’s ultra-urban Chippendale, it is hard to know
‘I also wanted to develop a concept that
trading their big, suburban family homes in
what Bean would make of this project.
addresses the challenges of providing very
for life in the city, the apartment market is
Jean Nouvel, a European architect no less,
upmarket but compact apartments head-
diversifying to address demand for more than
designed the building but it is not exactly
on. Our approach, then, was to do what the
just investment-grade building stock and
what you would call a recipe for degeneracy
car industry does – happily combine luxury
student accommodation.
and turpitude. A lush green wall designed
together with compact design.’
‘Luxury’, though, is becoming a much-
by Nouvel’s French compatriot Patrick Blanc
Smart developed four distinct interior
overused word, as developments attempt to
forms part of the tower’s facade, which includes
options, visually anchored in each case by a
attract this potentially lucrative demographic
250 species of Australian flowers and plants.
‘pod’ wall containing the apartments’ functional
through
The building also sits alongside a 64,000sqm
components:
bathroom,
European appliances, walk-in robes and en
park and boasts a 280sqm gymnasium and a
storage, air-conditioning and services. The
suite bathrooms grace everything from a
20-metre outdoor pool. Smart’s interiors, too,
pods come in lacquered orange, latte gloss,
five-bedroom penthouse to the meanest of
are a far-cry from the vision of mouldering,
and oak or walnut veneers, with other surface
shoebox studios.
Old-World tenements that Bean seemed
treatments following suit. Centralising services
As Kristen Whittle of the architectural firm
plagued by, having been inspired by the
in this way frees up floor space, while the use of
Bates Smart sees it, in an apartment context
streamlined refinement and high-gloss allure
bright polyurethane paneling, natural timber
this superficial approach has very little to do
of performance sports cars and motor yachts.
veneers, rounded joinery and chrome trim all
with genuine luxury.
‘I have a love of car design and from a young age spent enormous amounts of time
kitchen,
laundry,
underscore the ‘high-speed luxury’ approach. With a growing number of empty nesters
a
design
‘checklist’
that
sees
‘The past 10 years have seen hotel-style amenities being incorporated into residential
designing my own car, building models – I come from a car family, so we’ve always had great cars hanging around the place,’ says Smart. 32/ IL TRIDENTE
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35 SPRI NG STRE E T, D E SI GN: B A TE S SMA RT, R ENDER S : F LO O DS L IC ER
developments, which has left purchasers with
also believed there might be a demand for
very determined boundaries in the look and
more generously scaled residences, so they
feel of their units,’ says Whittle.
developed the building in such a way as to
‘We now have a product-focussed world
allow people to combine multiple units into
that people are asked to buy into, which
larger apartments. The strategy paid off, with
means they have to question how much of
some purchasers rumoured to have bought
their existing furniture can be incorporated
up entire floors. The project could well be
into the space before they move in. I think
an indication of a shift in market demand,
there remains an interesting question as to
towards larger, and arguably more liveable
how design responds to peoples’ lifestyles
apartments geared at owner-occupiers.
and how we support the individualisation of the spaces they buy.’
Nevertheless,
as
Whittle
points
out,
for architects to innovate in an apartment
To cater to this, Whittle believes there will
development, they also need to have a client
be an increasing amount of customisation
that is on the journey with them. Much like
in residential apartments. He has firsthand
Whittle, architects McBride Charles Ryan
experience with this emerging tendency at
(MCR) believe that people are crying out for
35 Spring Street, an apartment tower Bates
apartments that speak more to their sense of
We’re interested in diversity – human beings
Smart designed for Colliers International and
individuality and they know just how difficult
aren’t the same, so why should the places they
CBUS Property, currently under development
this can be to achieve. Genuinely innovative,
live be all exactly the same?’
in Melbourne. Flinders Lane, arguably one of
distinctive apartment developments are a
MCR shot to prominence for its multi-
Melbourne’s most dynamic streets, flanks the
rarity and in this sense bring with them their
award winning apartment complex QV2, a
site and it enjoys a rare leafy prospect across
own kind of exclusivity.
curvaceous eight-storey volume that sits on
the heritage-listed Treasury Gardens.
‘Most developers have a standard model
top of a retail podium next to the much-loved
An odd combination of foresight and
that they know sells and it’s really hard to change
State Library of Victoria in Melbourne. The
risk mitigation saw Bates Smart design units
their minds,’ says Debbie Ryan, a director of
building’s unusual shape means that all of the
in the tried-and-tested, compact scale the
MCR. ‘They listen to real estate agents, who tell
17 apartments on each floor are unique to that
market was familiar with. However, given
them ‘people will only buy beige’ and things like
floor. MCR combined this with four separate
the extraordinary location, the project team
that, because that’s all they’ve ever sold before.
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the groundwork was established for the apartment to take its place alongside its quarter-acre cousin in our dreams and aspirations Quay to the city and surrounding suburbs.
– albeit at a significantly larger scale. The
The curvilinear forms of the podium, though, both define the adjacent urban spaces and
all clad in highly reflective purple glass,
protect them from Docklands’ notoriously
which together accommodate more than 600
hostile winds. Permeable routes through the
apartments. Much like One Central Park, it
podium also prevent the complex becoming
includes generous recreational facilities – a
an impediment to pedestrians.
T HE Q UAY S , IMAGE: DI ANN A S N AP E
combines a sculptural form with electric colour project comprises two towers and a podium,
tennis court, clubhouse and a roof top garden
apartment buyer, you might wonder how
John Coburn of the four seasons, to bring an
with semi-private barbeque areas. Its critical
all this public amenity is ultimately going to
unusual of level of variation to the building’s
moves, though, are public ones.
improve the experience of your unit. Which
25-metre indoor pool, a yoga studio, day spa,
Of course, if you were a prospective
offering. ‘They told us we’d have to have a
‘We were really conscious of the public
brings us roundly to Nishi, a mixed-use
beige one, because that’s what everyone buys,
realm. It is important, it is the gateway to the
building in a most unlikely location for a high-
but actually that isn’t what people bought –
Docklands and it is the last set of water views
density apartment tower: Canberra.
they bought equal proportions of all the colour
on that city end,’ says Ryan. ‘So we felt the
schemes across the board,’ Ryan recalls.
weight of the importance of that site.’
Designed by Japan’s Suppose Design Office and Australian architects Fender
MCR’s latest apartment project is a mixed-
The towers’ curvaceous forms provide a
Katsalidis, Nishi is the latest stage in the
use apartment complex in Melbourne’s New
figurehead to the series of existing towers, a
decade-long realisation of the so-called
Quay precinct in Docklands. Much like QV2, it
landmark that announces the presence of New
‘New Acton’ precinct by Canberra-based
THE QUAY S , D E S I G N: MC B R IDE C HA R L ES R YAN I MAGE: JO H N GO L L INGS
NEW AC TO N N I S H I , D E S I G N : S U P P O S E D E S I G N O F F I C E / F E N D E R K A T SA L IDIS A R C H IT EC T S , IM AGE: RO S S H O NEY S E T
developer, The Molonglo Group. Molonglo
an average 8 Star NatHERS rating. For Nectar
has positioned New Acton as a dense
Ekfarpidis, though, a director of Molonglo,
neighbourhood of intensely localised urban
most of these features are peripheral to the
energy, a counter to Canberra’s nebulousness.
project’s core goal.
This is not just a rhetorical Trojan horse
‘Nishi and New Acton are about trying
for more lucrative, limit-busting plot ratios
to establish a community. All we’re doing is
though – Molonglo has made sincere efforts
building the infrastructure, in terms of that
at planning and programming the precinct,
mixed-use quality,’ says Ekfarpidis. ‘People
both in terms of the ‘hard’ infrastructure
need to feel that the place where they live,
of buildings and the ‘soft’ infrastructure of
work and play is theirs. In the end, what
cultural activity. There are offices, shops and
matters most is not design – what matters
restaurants here, but also workshops, artist
most is life force. There’s no point in building
spaces and regular events by the likes of the
these monumental, architectural exemplars
Canberra Symphony Orchestra.
when they’re empty mausoleums.’
Nishi features artisanal work by many of
Nishi, then, hopes to offer its inhabitants
Australia’s most renowned designers and
perhaps one of the most highly sought
craftspeople and it is also an ambitiously
after luxuries in today’s cities – the pleasure
sustainable building, employing best practice
of knowing your neighbours, a fraternal
passive design principles and an array of high
quality that even Bean would have had to
tech solutions to help each apartment achieve
approve of.
The author would like to acknowledge the use of research by Dr Charles Pickett and Caroline Butler-Bowdon in their book Homes in the Sky: Apartment living in 36/ IL TRIDENTE
Australia (The Miegunyah Press, 2007) in preparing this article.