The Queensbridge Building

In a fast-paced world, bombarded by fake news and fleeting gratification, we designed in the spirit of returning to the real. Reflecting on the deep-rooted industrial heritage of South Bank, our project, intersecting Queensbridge Street and Kings Way, creates an authentic experience of living ‘local’ amidst the city.

We dug to the depths of the site’s historical bedrock, fusing the natural geology and the artisanal masonry style of the area with a modern urban context. Entwining old with new, we housed contemporary local businesses within the industrial aesthetic to shape a unique local identity for the neighbourhood. This was achieved by keeping four concepts front-of-mind throughout the process: an honest use of materials revealing the real and raw, facilitating public spaces via urban connections to nature, paying homage to industrial mastery through detailing, and uncompromising design through the use of prefabrication techniques.

The structural design works hand in hand with materiality to establish a form that emerges ground up, stage by stage, as though generated by its own heritage — or even the earth itself. That which fell before this new build, has been reformulated into it. The façade is a celebration of industrial craft. A glass reinforced concrete frame is finished with volcanic textured cladding, each bump and chip of this porous surface is a sensory temptation — whispering to you to reach out and slide a hand across it, connecting person to place. Ground floor gardens are an invitation to both residents and the public, where operable doors facilitate indoor/outdoor settings. Natural flora reclaims its habitat as 600-year-old seeds, originally from the site, have been re-propagated — a nod to the pre-settlement swamplands that formerly encompassed the locale. The podium negotiates the building’s scale. With 600mm minimum density frames, the structure mitigates against city noise and pollution.

Punch inset windows, with bronze aluminium reveals, frame the residential apartments from the outside and offer vistas of the bay and cityscape from the inside. Subtle slots above the windows precipitate natural ventilation, while externally the frame depth cantilevers over the high-performance glazing, offering solar protection without compromising natural light. Without doubt, our NatHERS 7-star and Green Star 5-star rated project makes every effort to appreciate the land it rests on. By interweaving the virtues of both apartment and hotel-living, our project considers that making the quotidian something special is best done in creating community. A sense of belonging begins with the familiar face of the doorman. From there, collaboration with third party operators, whether getting a haircut or going to a yoga class, has delivered a layout that nurtures incidental connections between residents and guests in bespoke communal spaces. The best elements of city living are accessible to residents as entertainment spaces, a wellness club and a co-workspace are curated alongside the likes of providore, bakery and other local businesses offering fresh market produce.

Planning a new build takes time. That’s why in the interim, with the talents of international artist Reko Rennie, the vacant project site morphed into a multi-use basketball court for public use. Reluctant to say goodbye to the ephemeral energy of the activation, the success of our experiment alluded to the potential for a vibrant reimagining of the nearby 4000m2 under croft below the Kings Way overpass. Taking a leaf from the design book of New York’s Lowline, this space, hemmed by street food stalls and public art commissions including James North sculptures, will set the tone of this personable neighbourhood.

Nestled on the cusp of Melbourne’s art precinct, a unique sensory identity is established that makes this slice of the city intrinsically feel like home. We paid attention to every layer of this project, the raw natural elements, the heritage structural language and inclusion of today’s brightest entrepreneurs. This project weaves together a rich cultural tapestry, conducive to living the good life.

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