On a tight triangular site opposite Dulwich Hill Station in Sydney’s Inner West, Studio Apartments introduces unexpected amenity, dignity and quality to an affordable housing project – a housing type that is so often typified by meagre design outcomes. The design exploits every opportunity the site allows. Four storeys of apartments fan across the broad northern face, above a shopfront and an entry porch, while a detached, sculptural stair tower anchors the open galleries at the rear in a terraced garden open to the sky. While bareÌýat the moment, east and west flanks anticipate future development on adjacent sites.ÌýÌý
The top of the building is shaped by differing height controls on the western portion of the site, stepping two storeys higher and allowing a generous, protected communal area on the rooftop. Every apartment has expansive, well shaded glazing to the north and a deep, sunny balcony; every apartment is naturally cross-ventilated; every apartment overlooks the street; and the fanning disposition means that every apartment has its own distinct spatial character.Ìý
The plasticity and surface qualities of concrete are celebrated in the massing, tectonics and detailing of the block, and are apparent from the scale of the street to the scale of the apartment. Interiors are suffused with light, and views to the surrounding suburb – immediately apparent from each front door – are the apartments’ backdrop. Every component of this project – from its bold urban form and scale to its carefully designed fenestration and sunscreens – works hard to make architecture. Studio Apartments defends the idea of individual spatial experience within a collective cluster. It approaches a tough typology with remarkable gentleness.Ìý
Napier Street for Milieu, a small, speculative apartmentÌýbuilding for a boutique development company, represents a clever,Ìýcontextually responsive design with unusually fine-grained detailÌýfor a project of its type.Ìý
The mass of the five-storey block is split by an open-airÌýatrium in the centre of the lot. This intimate yet dramatic communalÌýspace allows each dwelling to have a dual aspect and, with generousÌýbridges spanning the atrium, also serves as the vestibule to all frontÌýdoors. Planters integrated into balustrades and a warm materialityÌýof timber and face brick immediately give this multi-layered spaceÌýa domestic feel. The brickwork is an ingenious combination ofÌýas-found and sawn-finish, laid in a variety of bonds to make subtlyÌýtextured surfaces.Ìý
A mix of double-height townhouses and stackedÌýsingleheightÌýapartments addresses both the street and the rear lane.ÌýLarge sliding doors behind balustrades offer full-height openingsÌýto the street, allowing living spaces to become deep terraces.ÌýForegrounding civic and community values in multiple housingÌýand celebrating the enduring qualities of modernism, NapierÌýStreet is emblematic of a new spirit in apartment buildings.Ìý
Salisbury Townhouses is a remarkable adaptiveÌýreuse project in which a set of tired, one-bedroom 1960sÌýunits with little amenity has been skilfully reconfigured into anÌýensemble of contemporary townhouses and given a new leaseÌýof life. This canny transformation of dormant housing stockÌýhas been achieved by adding a lightweight second storeyÌýto existing dwellings, reconfiguring plans, forming largerÌýopenings in existing brick walls and creating private outdoorÌýliving spaces in setbacks adjacent to each house. This is carefulÌýarchitectural work – the work of adaptation rather than erasure,Ìýpotent work that is increasingly important in the renovation ofÌýthe Australian suburbs.Ìý
Gillies Hall is a striking new student housing projectÌýthat advances environmental performance and mass timberÌýconstruction. Within these highly deterministic frameworks,ÌýJackson Clements Burrows Architects has designed comfortableÌýand thoughtful student spaces. At each level, banks of roomsÌýhave been pulled apart to widen the double-loaded, day-litÌýcorridors and transform them into central gathering spaces.ÌýBetween the two primary blocks are otherÌýmore stickyÌýspacesÌýfor cooking and socializing. Cross-laminated timber, exposedÌýwherever possible, is used confidently for joinery as wellÌýas structure, making warm, inviting spaces. Expressive steelÌýsunshading, redolent of bark, wraps the project and respondsÌýto the scale of the campus. In Gillies Hall, the architectÌýhas given strong character and identity to student housing.Ìý
Verve Residences punctuates the western endÌýof Newcastle. Two slender towers have been shaped and sitedÌýto allow excellent sunlight penetration to a broad podium, creatingÌýa key social space and garden for the residents. Sleeved by a mixÌýof retail, commercial and residential use, the podium steps backÌýfrom Cottage Creek to create a new public frontage andÌýthroughsiteÌýconnection along the creek. The fine urban form of the towers,Ìýwhich have a maximum of six apartments per floor, is accentuatedÌýby tapered balcony balustrades on the north side.
The importance and legacy of this project, though,Ìýis not in its detail. The small-footprint towers, good orientation,Ìýdaylit and naturally ventilated corridors, generous communalÌýspaces and urban connections deliver a fundamental architecturalÌýamenity – and more – while withstanding the pressureÌýof value engineering.Ìý
The ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies of the continent now called Australia.
We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.
