Location: Brighton | Value: $1.8m
Simple building forms are carved out and accentuated by a minimalist palette of materials – to portray legibility and a silent confident presence in its context.
This project was conceived from an aggregation and interrogation of parameters – the client brief, over-prescriptive planning controls, topographical analysis, a confused surrounding built environment, its location next to a railway line and the views afforded over the same. The outcome is a gently-cascading building form which is drawn inexplicably to Port Phillip Bay towards the west and the railway – which it both engages and divorces at the same time.
As a consequence of a mish-mash of building styles in the surrounds, the architecture of this project is decidedly reductivist. Simple building forms are carved out and accentuated by a minimalist palette of materials – to portray legibility and a silent confident presence in its context.
This project challenged planning controls and site constraints, in order to deliver an outcome which not only fulfilled the clients’ aspirations for high-quality architecture, but also became an investigation of the tension between medium-density urban consolidation and architecture as signifier.
A primary concern of this project was to reconcile the opposing requirements of optimising bay-views, excessive solar gain from the west as well as the noise emanating from the adjoining railway. To this end, good-sized winter garden terraces with fully-openable glazed bifold openings were designed along the western edges which serve as acoustic buffers, thermal heatsinks and still allow expansive vistas towards the bay.
A highly-specified double-glazing system has been specified to further enhance acoustic and thermal insulation, along with greater wall insulation values.
Raked and high cathedral ceilings for most of the dwellings facilitate increased northerly solar access into the expansive living areas. All dwellings are at least two-ended to improve cross-ventilation.
As the subject is located in an area with excellent levels of transport, amenities and schools, this project was an unmistakable opportunity to design for residential urban consolidation.