Construction kicks off at luxury Isle of Capri villa development, Capri

Architecture is an essential tool for social change and urban equality. When partnered with the right developers, architects can inspire a high level of community engagement, thus creating sustainable, human and environmentally focused spaces. With growth rising exponentially, we are seeing developments challenging the traditional urban plan.

Here is a list celebrating the prolific projects of the architects and developers who consciously make a social and environmental effort to change how we live, work, learn and play in Australia.

Architect - Fender Katsalidis
Project - Australia 108

Boasting the highest residences in the Southern Hemisphere, Australia 108 stands at 317 metres above the Melbourne skyline in a super tower fascinated world.
Sky high living isn’t anything new in Australia however it has never been more popular and highly contested. Australia 108 takes world class amenities and apartment standards to the next level.
Built mostly with Victorian materials which generate a sense of pride for the community.

The 12 story podium contains retail, hospitality and parking for residents and connects to the street level with vertical plants and overhanging native plant boxes on balconies, masking the pollution from cars within.
Living beyond the clouds comes at a cost however with the tallest penthouse in the southern hemisphere selling for $25 million dollars in mid 2018.

“The striking, sculptural design of Australia 108 is enhancing the Melbourne skyline and contributes to the city being recognised for its design of some of the tallest residential towers. The building, which features the gold starburst, shows how Australian-inspired design is reaching new heights.” - Craig Baudin, director of Fender Katsalidis.

ARCHITECT - Hayball
PROJECT - South Melbourne Primary School

Hayball has been instrumental in Australia’s development progress with the country’s first vertical primary school. South Melbourne Primary School rises six floors with a capacity for 525 students. 
With learning neighbourhoods accommodating up to 75 students and three teachers at a time, SMPS separates itself from archetypal educational facilities by delivering collaborative and interactive spaces.
Learning can take place indoors or outdoors with plentiful gardens and terraces which involve students with their surroundings. 

In 2018, Hayball won the GOV Design Awards for its consideration of materials, light, shadow, form, space and human interaction.
Located within the developing Fisherman’s Bend urban renewal precinct and with enrolment for the first year at capacity, it is clear that a school was beneficial for the area.
The school is also site for an early childhood development centre, a maternal and child health centre and with no fences around the property, Hayball collaborated with the City of Port Phillip to ensure the school integrated with a lively streetscape, giving students a feel of community and inclusion.

ARCHITECT - 3XN
PROJECT - QUAY QUARTER TOWER

The Quay Quarter Tower was designed by 3xn in collaboration with Arup and BVN to enable corporate change through an interaction between people and its surroundings in mind.
The former AMP tower which once stood on the site is being reduced to its skeleton, with two thirds of the building being retained, improvised and recycled to create 45,000sqm of new construction.

By doing this the construction process will save 10,000 Sydney to Melbourne flights in carbon emissions.
The tower has a 6 star energy rating with a five stacked rotated volumes between floors to act as sunshade whilst providing light on many of the terraces for workers and residents.
The Quay Quarter Tower truly sets a new standard for construction and how we live and work within the confines of a dense city and shows how much change we can implement for our environment on grand scales.

ARCHITECT - Woods Bagot
Short Lane, Surrey Hills

Inner city density can be quite stressful, which is why a development such as Short Lane in Surrey Hills is so important.
This environmentally and human friendly development aims to be a breath of fresh air in a sometimes suffocating environment with 22 apartments and bushy Cilandra and Periwinkle native plants overhanging the balconies.
Street frontage is activated by the engaged ground floor and a new laneway joining the existing built in 2017.
Short Lane is the winner of the 2019 INDE Multi-residential building award with its strong environmental agenda and sets a new standard for living in Australia.

"We were interested in the development connecting with its context in new ways by looking at the way urban nature can be experienced and woven into the city, with an emphasis on biophilia. 
Biophilic design is beginning to boom because contact with nature is increasingly supported by research findings on its wellbeing benefits. It's both a basic human and universal need.” - Woods Bagot‘s global design leader, Domenic Alvaro. 

ARCHITECT -  Silvester Fuller
PROJECT - Table Cape, Tasmania

The proposed Table Cape resort hotel is set atop the deep cliffs on Tasmania’s north-west coast.
Table Cape when completed will be part landscape, part building as most of the complex is set below ground level, covered in a lush green landscape that blends the structure into its surroundings.

Nature and its surroundings were at the foundation of this project, with Silvester Fuller Architects collaborating with Aspect Studios including along with 50 luxury rooms, a function centre, a wellness spa, a village green and a farmers restaurant supplied with local produce.
The courtyards sink effortlessly between the roofscape as decks weave between short bodies of water, with balconies that protrude out over the cliff, immersing people into the natural beauty of the site.

ARCHITECT - Rothelowman
PROJECT - Neue Grand

Growland’s 20-story Neue Grand provides nineteen whole floor luxury apartments with cutting edge technology, developing the first of its kind in Australia, sky garages.
Residents of the tower will be able to park two luxury cars in their apartments regardless of floor number, behind a glass port extension of their open plan living and dining room.

With a German engineered automated parking system, licence plate recognition is provided to ensure safety for residents with tight measures in place for access to apartments including fingerprint recognition.
If more than one resident needs to use the lift, one side of the two sided lift service will be supplied to them without revealing the floor destination.
This is an Australian first in luxury and security.

“New technologies have allowed complex environmentally responsive elements to be synthesised into everyday architectural elements and systems.
Through a process that, we at Rothelowman, refer to as ‘humble innovation’ this new techno synthesis, has in turn allowed our designers to utilises vernacular methods to  create sustainable and humane environments.
We believe in practicing with a ‘generous eye for life’ and seek to utilises every opportunity to materially improve our environments.” - Rothelowman Principal, Jonothan Cowle.

ARCHITECT - JOHN WARDLE ARCHITECTS
PROJECT - The Ian Potter Southbank Centre

John Wardle’s The Ian Potter Southbank Centre is the new home for the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
Along with learning and rehearsal spaces, the cantilevered orchestral studio and 200 seat studio on the ground floor features bell-shaped portholes allowing passers-by to form a connection within.

The oculus window on the Ground floor is one of the largest in the world at six metres in height. The building has a 5 star green energy rating and was designed with people and how we interact in focus. 
Accommodating for 1,000 students music students and over 6,000 from other faculties, The Ian Potter Southbank Centre’s design empowers music lovers, learners and teachers to engage, collaborate and discuss.

ARCHITECT - DKO ARCHITECTURE
PROJECT - BREESE STREET

Breese Street, Brunswick is a collaborative effort between DKO, Milieu and Breathe Architecture comprising of one, two and three bedroom apartments in a building that aspires to achieve a 7.5 energy star rating.
The development follows suit to the infamous Nightingale projects, providing the community with sustainable living options and a connection to nature like we haven’t seen before. Breese Street is no exception, with no more than four apartments per floor, neighbours are encouraged to interact with commune spaces and a rooftop garden.

The garden is a community vegetable plot, with beehives maintained by urban beekeeping collective Honey Fingers, not only providing residents with honey and sustaining new ecosystems, but teaching residents also.
Rainwater is redirected to garden irrigation while a compost area lowers food wastage. The roof of the development will accommodate a solar panel system, offering residents wholesale energy rates.

“The inception of Breese St was conceived by the implementation of two key critical value propositions, sustainability and community.
Sustainable principles are not only ethically important, but contribute to the comfort and amenity of residents. Community offerings shift medium density housing away from pure architectural propositions towards scenarios that allow and encourage residents to take ownership of their habitat and lifestyle.
We believe the future evolution and maturity of medium density housing in Australia requires the adaption of these measures in a mature and sophisticated model, becoming the norm rather than the exemplar. In needs to be inherent.” - Design Director Jesse Linardi

ARCHITECT - CLARKE HOPKINS CLARKE
PROJECT - BAPTCARE AGED CARE, LALOR

As the north Melbourne suburb of Lalor’s demographic dramatically changes over the next decade, architects such as Clarke Hopkins Clarke are instrumental and necessary to the way we live.

The Baptcare Aged Care facility will cater for the community with 120 beds and 135 independent living residences delivering much needed quality services, especially to those of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Lalor sits in one of the country’s fastest growing municipalities with 84 percent of people being over 50 in the next two decades and a population where over 38% of people were born overseas and speak another language other than English at home. 

ARCHITECT AND DEVELOPER - PDG DESIGN x Bates Smart
PROJECT - QVM Residences

Queen Victoria Market residences represents a new wave of developmental practices shifting the focus from build-to-sell to Melbourne’s first build-to-rent due to an agreement between PDG and Mirvac.
With over 20,000 people calling the market precinct home in the new few years, the area is developing and revitalising quickly. The QVM project comprises of 420 apartments and is one of the first major developments to receive 6 green star communities accreditation due to the sustainable efforts of a renewed community hub, child care facilities and affordable housing.

Advantages of build-to-rent developments include longer term leaser to alleviate stress, low rents due to the long term nature of overall investment, centralised maintenance, minimal disruption from sole owners, increased sense of community with long term neighbours and community spaces.

ARCHITECT - FJMT - Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp
PROJECT - Bunjil Place

Short-listed this year for Best Public Building in the 2019 ALIA Library Design Awards amongst a plethora of architectural and design awards over the past two years, Bunjil Place has created a lively and much needed community space for people in Melbourne’s South.
A first of its kind for Melbourne, a library, community space, an outdoor plaza, function centre, gallery and a theatre all in one building, combining creativity, learning and entertainment.
The architecture and the name were inspired by stories of Bundjil by our First Nation People.

Built in The City of Casey, “There are also elements that are specific to each First Nation’s group that embed the story firmly into the vernacular of each tribe such as the species of eagle and the local topography Bunjil may inhabit.” - bunjilplace.com

ARCHITECT - MCBRIDE CHARLES RYAN
PROJECT - Banksia, Docklands

The Banksia Apartments in Docklands, Melbourne is a well designed structure that encourages healthy and active living through a sense of community with communal spaces such as the rooftop central park and lounge.

The building has substantial environmental practices such as using recycled rainwater runoff to water plants and garden beds, a facade that addresses heat gain, heat loss and general acoustics, smart sensors in communal areas to reduce energy usage when unoccupied and cyclist facilities to promote Melbourne’s expansive public transport system.
Banksia Apartments aims to achieve a 5 star Green Star Rating.

ARCHITECT - DBI DESIGN
PROJECT - Jewel, Gold Coast

With a design inspired by the crystalline hook of the Gold Coast’s iconic Hinterlands, Jewel is the first beach development for the city in 30 years and the largest beachfront mixed use development in Australia.
Designed by DBI Design, the three towers respond to the tropical climate by employing a sophisticated facade technology to ensure shading from the sun and shelter from the wind.

These technologies hope to deliver the complex a 5 Star Energy Rating.
The luxury development was presented with two International Property Awards 2016 for the Asia Pacific Region. The towers are a testament to the ever-growing Queensland economy and pressure to create mixed use environments.

“Jewel will be transformative for the Gold Coast as it will bring a new level of sophistication and innovation while creating the city’s largest and most diverse beachfront food and entertainment destination.” - Barry Lee of DBI Design.

ARCHITECT - SHoP Architects and Woods Bagot
PROJECT - Collins Arch

Collins Arch, designed by SHoP Architects in collaboration with Woods Bagot, revitalises a sleepy corner of the CBD into a 24 hour, lively community of offices, international W hotel, retail and residences on site.
The development will also bring Melbourne’s first public park in the Hoddle Grid since 1980.

Along with the 1900sqm of green space, each floor plate has been optimised to give back to the city with cascading balconies allowing sunlight to reach all parts of the building and private and public gardens.
Collins Arch is designed to achieve 5.5 star NABERS Energy rating for the premium grade commercial office space, a 4.5 star NABERS Energy rating for the W Hotel and a 7 star average NatHERS rating across the residential space. Architect and developer collaboration has proved beneficial and is increasingly more prevalent in our time with many providing sustainable mixed use developments with a focus of strengthening communities.

“In May 2014, SHoP’s collaboration with Woods Bagot won an international competition to design a landmark development. The project has been celebrated as the first true mixed-use development in Australia. Catalytically urban, public-spirited and fresh, Collins Arch will help complete the transformation of the surrounding area into a vibrant, around-the-clock community.” - Bill Sharples, SHoP Principal.

ARCHITECT - OMA + HASSELL
PROJECT - New Museum Western Australia

The New Museum of Western Australia, designed collaboratively by Hassell and OMA, is being developed with the philosophy of ‘People First.’
Celebrating the culture of Western Australia on a global stage, the project features a civic place for all people with a mix of heritage and modern architecture representing the past, present and the future.

Much of this project is what it means for the people, with the natural landscape reflected in the building’s design and a celebration of the integrated existing heritage buildings which hold significance to the people of Western Australia. The Museum aims to promote collaboration, engagement and responds to the needs of the community.
With 6000sqm of galleries and 1000sqm of space to stage large scale events and special exhibitions, the New Museum provides the community with much to inspire and creates a sense of pride for locals.

ARCHITECT - Breathe Architecture
PROJECTS - The Commons, Nightingale 1

We all know the environmental success that The Commons and Nightingale 1 projects brought to Australia in 2014, but what is more exciting is that it set a precedent of development that today is becoming more familiar to Australians, especially those in the suburbs of Melbourne.
The development is about sustainable urbanisation with spacious, light filled and affordable apartments enclosed in a sustainable shell that adds value to the community.

What is most impressive about The Commons is what’s inside, a diverse range of residents whose attitudes attitudes towards generosity and mingling thrive in communal spaces.
A sense of camaraderie and pride is shared amongst the residents of the Nightingale Housing project with a rooftop garden and achieving an 8 Star Green Rating.
Breathe has collaborated with the likes of Hayball, Kennedy Nolan, Clare Cousins and many more to deliver the future Nightingale Village with multiple structures applying the same, crucial tools to achieve sustainable urban living.

These developments are 100% fossil fuel free via an embedded energy network with water harvesting and productive gardens and affordability to all Australians.
The Commons and Nightingale are Australia’s answer to managing population growth in an environmentally and socially conscious way to which five years on, we can now see that it is a desirable development that works.
A shared solar energy network ensure every resident receives 100% green power.

ARCHITECT - BVN
PROJECT - 430 Pitt Street