Brisbane-based developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/red-co">Red &amp; Co</a> has made a striking debut on the Gold Coast, officially unveiling its $250 million COMO development in Varsity Lakes, a lifestyle-driven residential project anchored by an extensive rooftop wellness and activity precinct.

Having recently launched to market, construction has already been fast-tracked by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/builders/5point-projects">5Point Projects</a>, ensuring momentum continues on what is set to become a landmark residential address for the growing Varsity Lakes community.

Located at 22 Lake Street, Varsity Lakes, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/como-varsity-lakes-22-lake-street-varsity-lakes-qld-4227">COMO</a> will comprise 156 apartments across 16 levels, comprising one-, two- and three-bedroom residences designed for modern living. However, it is the project’s rooftop amenity offering that sets COMO apart.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=135546 project_image_fid=363510]

Designed as a dedicated wellness and recreation hub, the rooftop will feature a 25-metre lap pool, fully equipped gymnasium, and multiple pickleball and paddleball courts - amenities rarely seen in boutique apartment projects.

Residents will also have access to a sauna and plunge baths, while landscaped gardens and relaxation zones will provide tranquil spaces overlooking sweeping panoramic views across the Gold Coast skyline.

The rooftop precinct has been designed to function as the social and wellness heart of the development, encouraging residents to embrace an active, balanced lifestyle within their own building.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=135546 project_image_fid=363512]

Red &amp; Co director David Laverty said the amenity offering was central to the project’s design from the outset.

“Amenities were at the forefront of our decisions,” Laverty said.

“Buyers today are looking for more than just an apartment - they want a lifestyle that promotes health, connection and balance.

“The rooftop at COMO has been designed to be the epicentre of that lifestyle, with a suite of wellness and recreation facilities that are quite unique for a boutique development of this scale.”

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=135546 project_image_fid=363514]

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/bda-architecture">BDA Architecture</a>, the residences prioritise liveability, featuring spacious layouts, 2.7-metre ceilings and high-quality finishes throughout.

The development sits beside Bond University, placing residents within walking distance of education, retail and dining options within the vibrant Varsity Lakes precinct, including Robina Town Centre, Varsity Lakes Train Station and a range of leading schools.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=135546 project_image_fid=363511]

Laverty said the location was a key driver behind Red &amp; Co’s decision to bring the project to the Gold Coast.

“<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/varsity-lakes-qld-4227">Varsity Lakes</a> was a clear choice for us to invest in as it’s a lifestyle hub that seamlessly blends lakeside living with urbanity,” he said.&nbsp;

“Como will capitalize on this great location, delivering a project that not only creates premium homes, but a lifestyle defined by community, wellbeing, and connectivity.”

Red &amp; Co has delivered more than 500 apartments and townhouses across 26 projects in Brisbane in recent years, with COMO marking the company’s first major Gold Coast development.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=135546]

Joel Robinson

Red & Co unveils amenity-rich Como development in Varsity Lakes

Gold Coast developer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/big-projects">Big Projects</a> has secured approval for its second Mermaid Beach project.

The developer, currently selling <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-frederick-mermaid-beach-2265-gold-coast-highway-mermaid-beach-qld-4218">The Frederick in Nobby Beach</a>, has secured approval for its next project just 1.5 kilomnetres up the road.

The new development, dubbed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/glenelg-residences-2462-2472-gold-coast-highway-mermaid-beach-qld-4218">Glenelg Residences</a>, has been designed by BDA Architecture and&nbsp;will have just under 100 apartments across an 11-storey building&nbsp;at 2462–2472 Gold Coast Highway, on the corner of Glenelg Avenue just under 300m from the future Mermaid Beach Light Rail stop.

The apartments, a mix of two- and three-bedrooms, will sit above a retail-focused ground plane and under extensive rooftop resident amenities.

<img alt="Exclusive: Big Projects plot Mermaid Beach apartment development, Glenelg Residences" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/f_auto,c_limit,w_1440,q_75/https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/field/image/Screen%20Shot%202024-06-11%20at%209.55.04%20am.png?VersionId=z6NV4izeuvhBSSVlY6vK6TPO1LxrFeaG" />

BDA said in its planning submission that the project is intended to support the area’s transition toward higher-density, mixed-use living. “This project offers the opportunity to generate appropriate higher-intensity development within the future Light Rail corridor of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/mermaid-beach-qld-4218">Mermaid Beach</a>,” the submission noted.

At ground level, Glenelg Residences will include eight retail tenancies designed to activate the street frontage, complemented by a basement bar offering an additional hospitality element. Above, residents will have access to a rooftop amenity deck featuring an infinity pool, hot and cold plunge spas, day beds, and barbecue facilities.

The architectural approach adopts a restrained material palette of brick, textured concrete, and integrated landscaping, with cantilevered concrete frames and cascading planting intended to soften the built form. BDA described the design as aiming to create “a memorable sculptural mid-rise mixed-use building” that responds to both its coastal setting and urban context.

<img alt="Exclusive: Big Projects plot Mermaid Beach apartment development, Glenelg Residences" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,dpr_2.0,q_auto:good/https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screen%20Shot%202024-06-11%20at%209.55.45%20am.png?VersionId=cpjIVBqcT_sujmo2UMWkVyLcQ7WGJHaQ" />

The approval comes as the City of Gold Coast continues to plan for significant population growth, with regional targets requiring more than 100,000 new high-density dwellings by 2046.

<section data-scroll-anchor="false" data-testid="conversation-turn-36" data-turn="assistant" data-turn-id="request-WEB:55d7c6ac-8e6d-4881-ad49-0ed9bf66d1cc-17" dir="auto">
Big Projects, led by Matthew and John Barrett, is part of a growing cohort of developers that deliver construction in-house, providing a high level of confidence to prospective purchasers.
</section>

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=150260]

Big Projects secures approval for Glenelg Residences in Mermaid Beach

Sherpa Group is ramping up its investment in the southern Gold Coast by lodging a development application for <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/flourish-viver-87-griffith-street-coolangatta-qld-4225">Flourish Viveré</a>, a new $350 million project in Coolangatta.

The move comes after the group’s $27 million acquisition of the 2,029 sqm site on the corner of Griffith and Warner Street, last year.

They will develop 194 apartments across a 26-storey tower, which will become Sherpa’s largest project to date.

Viveré will be the next chapter in the Flourish story, following closely behind Amargo, Oasis, and the Avenues in Palm Beach, as well as Symphony in Brisbane, all designed to deliver affordable housing in lifestyle-rich locations, giving locals a real chance to secure a residence close to the beachfront.

The HAL Architect-designed project will offer a diverse range of residences, from one-, two, and three- bedroom apartments to the premium Canopy range to luxury penthouses.

<img alt="Vivere" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c85f5a7e-a22f-4745-8def-400adb3c0b35" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-04-15%20at%209.53.43%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=OY.chur3BPExn1exQ2q8clHqWnW_CaBi" />

“The Gold Coast is undergoing a period of immense growth, with more people drawn to the incredible 
lifestyle that’s available, leading to strong growth in property prices,” said Christie Leet, founder of Sherpa 
Group.

“Our goal at Sherpa is to ensure locals are not priced out of the market in prime locations, which is why we 
created the Flourish collection.

“Flourish Vivere will form the next chapter in our portfolio, and we are so excited to be lodging the DA, marking our first project in Coolangatta.”

A signature of the Flourish developments is the communal rooftop. Flourish Vivere will showcase a private resident’s lounge, outdoor dining with barbecues and pizza ovens, heated pool, fully-equipped gym, and a wellness centre with sauna and steam room.

<img alt="Vivere" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c09372cc-aae6-4458-af2e-f291bd19a5e5" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-04-15%20at%209.53.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=Sc_RLXl5jiff.tnadogXjQJ_WIpDjf3p" />

The project is strategically located to offer a walkable lifestyle, with the Strand shopping centre, cafes, restaurants, shops and the beach, all just a short stroll away.

“We have meticulously planned Vivere to build on the Flourish legacy, creating a truly special project,”&nbsp;Leet added.

“Wellness, lifestyle and community are at the forefront of every decision we make, and that has not 
changed for Vivere.”

With the DA now lodged with the Gold Coast City Council, Sherpa has moved quickly to secure LPS Group as the builder, offering buyers a level of certainty that is rarely seen in today’s market.

Sherpa has delivered 16 residential projects over the past seven years with a pipeline of $1 billion, with more under construction.

Sherpa takes Flourish brand to Coolangatta, lays plans for Flourish Vivere 

S&amp;S Projects is boosting its investment at Rainbow Bay to more than $1 billion after the prolific Gold Coast developer acquired a new site for $20.25 million and immediately laid plans for a new luxury apartment project in the sought-after precinct.

The site, which is the company’s fifth acquisition at Rainbow Bay in the past four years, will be home to the company’s largest project to date after delivering 3 sold-out projects and construction progresses on Radia worth a combined $215m. 
S&amp;S Projects is currently finalising plans for its latest strategic acquisition, a 1,518 sqm site located 209-213 Boundary Street in Coolangatta, with a development application expected to be lodged within weeks.

The luxury residential development will build on the company’s highly successful projects at Rainbow Bay, comprising Flow, Awaken, Esprit and Radia, with Radia currently under construction by Hutchinson Builders.

“We have been unflinching in our commitment to Rainbow Bay and the transformation we have helped drive in this incredible part of the Gold Coast, which is among the city’s most desirable residential locations,” said S&amp;S Projects founder and director Paul Gedoun.

“Our fifth project will reflect the best of what we have done so far to create a lifestyle precinct that is second to none.”

The latest development, which has yet to be named, is proposed to accommodate 88 luxury apartments in a design that will immerse residents in a unique wellness lifestyle that expands on the legacy of S&amp;S Project’s earlier developments at Rainbow Bay.

The development will feature an expansive rooftop garden and wellness centre with a resort- style pool, among a host of lifestyle amenities planned for residents.

“Rainbow Bay, with its beautiful, protected beach and alongside one of the world’s best surf breaks at Snapper Rocks, is the natural wellness heartland of the Gold Coast,” said Gedoun.

“We are taking every advantage to create a truly unique rooftop wellness experience with a natural feel for residents, offering stone features throughout and an underlying theme that emulates a botanical garden.”

The latest acquisition comes as S&amp;S Projects is at the completion of Esprit and construction continues on Radia, which are part of their significant portfolio undertaken by the company at Rainbow Bay since 2022.

The $215 million Radia, which comprises 38 apartments, is currently the flagship development by S&amp;S Projects at Rainbow Bay which is expected to be completed in 2027.

Jayde Pezet, of Pezet Matheson, which has managed sales and marketing for S&amp;S Projects across their Gold Coast portfolio, emphasised the developer’s commitment to continuous improvement and excellence.

“S&amp;S Projects continue to elevate the benchmark of luxury with each development," Pezet said.

“We have worked with S&amp;amp;S on their 4 other projects in Rainbow Bay and their approach reflects a team that is constantly learning, refining, and pushing the standard higher.

“Their hyper-local knowledge and deep expertise within the luxury property sector are what truly set them apart, allowing them to deliver projects that feel both globally sophisticated and authentically connected to their coastal environment”

S&amp;S Projects plans to officially launch its latest project at Rainbow Bay in the second half of this year.

“As we embark on our largest project yet, we have pulled out all stops to create another landmark development that truly reflects the relaxed southern Gold Coast lifestyle,” Gedoun added.

S&S buys $20m Rainbow Bay site for fifth beachside apartment project

Japandi, an emerging design trend that combines Scandinavian functionality with Japanese rustic minimalism, remains relatively untested in Australia’s residential development market.

As developers look to differentiate their projects and offer something distinct to buyers, Brisbane-based developer Lantona has embraced the hybrid style for its recently launched Toowong apartment project, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/koya-residences-6-josling-street-toowong-qld-4066">Koya Residences</a>, with early response to the design proving positive.

Lantona entrusted Red Door Architecture and interiors practice Luma Design Co with delivering the Japandi brief. The approach blends Japanese minimalism with Scandinavian functionality, emphasising warm, restrained interiors, natural materials and clean lines. Drawing on the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi (beauty in imperfection) and the Scandinavian principle of hygge (comfort and cosiness), it creates serene, uncluttered and sustainable living environments.

These design principles are expressed throughout the Josling Street development, both in its exterior form and across the 40 one-, two- and three-bedroom residences within.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150787 project_image_fid=366229]

Koya reflects a deliberately scaled approach, with the five-storey form designed to align with the surrounding residential streetscape rather than dominate it.

“Koya is conceived as a building that sits comfortably within its surroundings. Every decision, from material selection to spatial planning, has been guided by long-term liveability and enduring relevance,” the developer said.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150787 project_image_fid=366243]

Positioned within an established inner-west neighbourhood, the development sits near riverfront parklands and the Bicentennial Bikeway, while remaining within walking distance of Toowong Village and multiple public transport options connecting to the CBD, St Lucia and West End.

Lantona said the location was central to the project’s conception, pointing to Toowong’s balance of green space, transport access and proximity to major education institutions.

“<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/toowong-qld-4066">Toowong</a> combines river access, walkability, immediate CBD connection and a strong educational presence. That balance made it the obvious setting for Koya.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150787 project_image_fid=366230]

Communal amenity is concentrated on the rooftop, where a shared retreat will include a pool, dining areas and outdoor spaces oriented towards neighbourhood and city views. The design allows for both private use and small gatherings, extending the living environment beyond individual apartments.

Koya enters the market at a time when smaller-scale developments are becoming less common in established suburbs, with many recent projects in the suburb shooting for the sky.

In a nod of confidence,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/builders/brisbane-builders">Brisbane Builders</a>&nbsp;has already commenced construction on the building, which is slated for completion in early 2027. Keenan &amp; Byrne is marketing Koya.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=150787]

Japandi-inspired Koya Residences launch in Toowong

Kerstin Thompson Architects

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Boutique developer <a href="/developers/antipodean-land-developments">Antipodean Land Developments</a> is pushing ahead with its Balfe Park Lane project in <a href="/new-apartments/brunswick-east-vic-3057">Brunswick East</a>. <a href="/news/antipodean-style-another-design-sensitive-apartment-project-for-brunswick-east">First covered on Urban.com.au in late June</a>, Balfe Park Lane comprises an ensemble of four interconnected apartment buildings designed by<a href="/architects/kerstin-thompson-architects"> Kerstin Thompson Architects</a> (KTA), located between Nicholson Street and Balfe Park. 

KTA has designed Balfe Park Lane to provide a unique offering which promotes design excellence, high quality resident amenity and sustainable living. Capitalising on its 60m park frontage and three acres of adjacent public open space, the Balfe Park Lane provides the Aussie Dream of a big backyard but with an inner-city twist. Balfe Park Lane features nine townhouses and a mix of two, three and four bedroom apartments with dual aspects and allowing for natural cross-flow ventilation and an abundance of natural light.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public//pictures/article-images/77-83_nicholson_st_v08_balfe_park_elevation_final_2k_20180924_0000.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="The development includes 60m of park frontage. Image: Local Peoples"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="325" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files//styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/77-83_nicholson_st_v08_balfe_park_elevation_final_2k_20180924_0000.jpg?itok=RRQ5pnC1" title="The development includes 60m of park frontage. Image: Local Peoples" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>The development includes 60m of park frontage. Image: Local Peoples</figcaption></figure>Antipodean's aspirations for the site were to deliver a socially and environmentally sustainable development which enhanced and benefited the local community. This aligned closely with KTA's own aspirations and together they fulfilled this goal via the inclusion of a public laneway linking Nicholson Street to Balfe Park.

According to the architects, the development highlights how multi-residential design should consider the requirements of residents as well as the surrounding neighbourhood to create buildings with lasting appeal. Drawing on the industrial fabric of the surrounding context, Balfe Park Lane’s facade and materiality deliver a contemporary response to Brunswick East’s architectural vernacular of brickwork and concrete.The interiors are characterised by whitewash timber-lined ceilings which provide thermal and acoustic benefits and creating a sense of warmth.

A collection of retail tenancies that respond to Brunswick East's eclectic mix of retail and hospitality offerings, will be located on the ground level providing active frontages to the public realm. A communal courtyard and rooftop garden complement the adjacent recreational park space on offer at Balfe Park.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public//pictures/article-images/77-83_nicholson_st_v09_roof_terrace_final_2k_20180924_00001.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Balfe Parke Lane provides residents with a number of communal areas including a rooftop garden. Image: Local Peoples"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="387" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files//styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/77-83_nicholson_st_v09_roof_terrace_final_2k_20180924_00001.jpg?itok=KR432j6m" title="Balfe Parke Lane provides residents with a number of communal areas including a rooftop garden. Image: Local Peoples" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Balfe Parke Lane provides residents with a number of communal areas including a rooftop garden. Image: Local Peoples</figcaption></figure>Sustainability was also pivotal to the design of Balfe Park Lane with the inclusion of solar PVs, rainwater harvesting, rooftop composting, vegetable gardens, electric vehicle charging stations and ample bicycle amenities.  Design features such as operable shades and windows, and ceiling fans provide passive sustainable design methods for thermal comfort.

Antipodean hopes that the thoughtful design will make an enduring local impact, contributing meaningfully to the already strong sense of community in the area.

<h2>What they say...</h2>

<blockquote>
The design of Balfe Park Lane as an ensemble of buildings of varying shape and orientation rather than a large, single building means that there is a stronger sense of neighbourhood and an individual address within a broader social context

Four individual structures also means we have more opportunities to give each dwelling the benefit of windows that welcome in light, ventilation and views. In a market that often values lavish fixtures and fittings, we believe real luxury lies in creating a beautiful framework – providing ‘good bones’ - that will endure and give lasting pleasure to occupants.

- Kerstin Thompson, Founding Principal @ KTA
</blockquote>

 

<blockquote>
It’s a rare opportunity to enjoy a lifestyle that combines the best of inner-city living with all the benefits of a large garden at your front door.

 Brunswick East is calling out for a new and innovative approach to multi-residential living that cleverly integrates our need for greenery within an inner-city locale. The amenities on offer at this development are unparalleled in the neighbourhood.

- Dominic Ziino, Managing Agent, Castran
</blockquote>
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Laurence Dragomir

Balfe Park Lane adds to KTA's growing housing portfolio

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The string of apartment-based planning applications with 'design excellence' at their core continues within Moreland City Council's boundaries.

Already the heartland for the Nightingale series of apartment projects, other developers too have joined the push to realise sustainable, community-driven apartment developments in the municipality. Apartments.com.au has in recent weeks covered <a href="/news/emphasis-on-sustainable-design-for-milieus-latest-in-brunswick">Milieu's Brunswick development</a> in waiting, in addition to <a href="/news/brunswicks-progressive-apartment-design-dynamic-gains-another-devotee">Excelon's recent Sydney Road</a> application.

Further to the above projects, entity Antipodean Land Developments Pty Ltd is seeking approval for a substantial apartment development in Brunswick East. Breathe Architecture and Kerstin Thompson Architects have collaborated on the design for the project which is sited 10-16 Little Miller Street.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public//pictures/article-images/image22_16.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="A new Little Miller Street outlook. Planning image: Breathe Architecture / KTA"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="328" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files//styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image22_16.jpg?itok=E9-VJk-a" title="A new Little Miller Street outlook. Planning image: Breathe Architecture / KTA" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>A new Little Miller Street outlook. Planning image: BA / KTA</figcaption></figure>For Antipodean, the Little Miller Street site is the second tilt at gaining approval for an apartment project after the entity was given the green light for 77-83 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East during February. That retail and apartment project was also the work of Kerstin Thompson Architects.

10-16 Little Miller Street is located directly behind 77-83 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East, and provided the former gains approval, Antipodean stands to hold the right to deliver just under 200 apartments across both sites.

The Little Miller Street proposal is currently at advertising and features 115 apartments and townhouses across four buildings, arranged around a central green space. A cafe, 235 bicycle bays and 135 car parking spaces across two basement levels constitute the balance of the development.

<h2>Seeking design excellence</h2>

Excerpts from the application's joint Design Statement point toward the architecture firms intent in creating a high-end design across the four separate residential buildings.

<blockquote>
This (the design) has drawn upon the thought leadership in architecture for which each practice is independently renown and our shared values especially around the potential for social and environmental sustainability that stems from the formation of high quality living environments.

Together BA + KTA have collaborated on the site masterplanning and over-arching design principles. Each practice has then undertaken the more detailed design for two of the four buildings that make up an exciting ensemble for the Little Miller street development.

Little Miller Street development aims to be a housing exemplar. In addition to prioritising high quality internal amenity, dwelling diversity and a strong sense of community for its occupants it will also benefit beyond the site to enhance the broader neighbourhood (public realm).

Underpinned by a strong commitment to passive design the project has targeted a 7.5 NatHERS average across the development. HIP V. HYPE Sustainability has worked closely with KTA and BA to identify and adopt measures to improve the project’s environmental, social and economic sustainability.
</blockquote>

<h2>Nicholson Street evolves</h2>

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public//pictures/article-images/image25_12.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Nightingale Brunswick East and 77-83 Nicholson Street. Images: CHC / KTA"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="224" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files//styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image25_12.jpg?itok=hEKRiCOP" title="Nightingale Brunswick East and 77-83 Nicholson Street. Images: CHC / KTA" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Nightingale Brunswick East and 77-83 Nicholson Street. Images: CHC / KTA</figcaption></figure>Within the grander context of thousands of new apartments in development over the northern reaches of Nicholson Street, a subcontext of developments pushing for heightened design principles is appearing in the area.

10-16 Little Miller Street is adjacent to the freshly at construction Nightingale Brunswick East apartment development. The duo along with 77-83 Nicholson Street are forming a pocket of apartment developments which are focused on passive yet socially progressive design.

These developments are in contrast to more 'typical' apartment developments that lack many of the design nuances that are boasted by projects such as Nightingale Brunswick East and 10-16 Little Miller Street.
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silvermb

Antipodean style: Another design sensitive apartment project for Brunswick East

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Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA) have transformed the former Victoria Police Mounted Branch stables on Southbank into world-class teaching and learning facilities for students of the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Music following an $18 million make-over.

The refurbishment is an exemplar of adaptive re-use and continues KTA's affinity with working with the fabric of heritage structures, since its inception in 1994. The stables were purpose-built in 1912 as part of the old Police Depot, which included a hospital, barracks and drill hall.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/the_stables_jg.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="The Stables within its Southbank context. Image: John Gollings"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="387" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/the_stables_jg.jpg?itok=3X75ARas" title="The Stables within its Southbank context. Image: John Gollings" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>The Stables within their Southbank context. Image: John Gollings</figcaption></figure>The Stables were officially open on Monday 14 May by Creative Industries Minister Martin Foley, who said the re-purposing and redevelopment of The Stables was part of a long-term plan to transform Southbank into "one of the world’s leading arts precincts."

The University of Melbourne’s acquisition of The Stables site was made possible through the significant support of the State Government, with the $18 million refurbishments undertaken through the significant support of generous philanthropists including The Ian Potter Foundation, The Myer Foundation and Martyn &amp; Louise Myer. 

The Stables feature a new visual arts wing with 170 studios and flexible exhibition spaces and the former riding school has been converted into a 260-seat multipurpose arts wing for theatre, dance, music theatre and music performances.

The heritage features of the former police stables had been maintained through the preservation of its bluestone mounting yards, red brick façade and iconic octagonal roof and skylight, formerly referred to by Mounted Branch staff as ‘The Dome’.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/the_stables_dome_tm.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="The iconic 'dome' has been preserved within the 8m refurbishment. Image: Trevor Mein"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="387" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/the_stables_dome_tm.jpg?itok=Wh65a8_B" title="The iconic 'dome' has been preserved within the 8m refurbishment. Image: Trevor Mein" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>The iconic 'dome' has been preserved within the 8m refurbishment. Image: Trevor Mein</figcaption></figure><blockquote>
The Former Mounted Police Stables and Former Riding School have been transformed to VCA’s School of Art. Once home of the horse is now home of 150 under- and post-graduate students. One of the largest metropolitan stables, this heritage-listed building is significant for its police use and distinguished by cellular organisation of its stalls, sublime repetition of structure and light-filled volumes by way of clerestory windows. Its bones formed an ideal fit with the university’s need for studios and a performing arts space.

An urban cornerstone of the university’s Southbank campus, the distinctive form of the octagon marks the intersection of Dodds and Grant Streets. It hinges the two wings of the facility into a v-formation to create the southern end of the central courtyard. The Dodd Street wing – former stables – is dedicated to studios and the Grant Street wing – former riding school – to performing arts space. It’s linked with the existing Grant Street theatre via a new steel canopy. The ground floor of the octagon forms the ceremonial entry and access to both wings and the campus courtyard. Exploiting its geometry, it can be divided into seminar, exhibition and event spaces as required through a series of sliding panels.

- Kerstin Thompson Architects
</blockquote>

KTA's transformation of the stables involved a series of interventions to the heritage fabric which required a delicate balancing act of careful conservation and restorative works to existing floor surfaces and stall fronts, and significantly more transformative changes in the sectional qualities of the space in order to accommodate new programme.

Staff offices, seminar rooms and a central conference room characterised by the now-revealed original steel trusses, are located at the first floor, with an oculus framing the structure from the entry below.

The original double-storey central void was partly in-filled to accommodate upper level studio spaces, utilising the higher ceilings and natural light afforded via the clerestory windows with circulation moved to the perimeter. 

New studio partitions provide the school with adaptable spaces which enable flexibility of use as exhibition space, for example outside of their everyday use as studio space.

According to the architects, one of the most significant challenges was the integration of building services. The adopted solution worked two-fold - it ensured minimal impact on the original heritage fabric and provided place-making opportunities for the courtyard by locating much of the plant within a series of brick-faced panel 'urban blocks'

Other key projects in the Southbank campus redevelopment include the recently-opened Buxton Contemporary, and a new state-of-the-art nine-storey building for the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music – The Ian Potter Southbank Centre – which will open in 2019.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/kerstin-thompson-banner-19tlnj5.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Kerstin Thompson within the refurbished Stables. Image: Giulia McGauran"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="290" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/kerstin-thompson-banner-19tlnj5.jpg?itok=ynI2EPT4" title="Kerstin Thompson within the refurbished Stables. Image: Giulia McGauran" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Kerstin Thompson within the refurbished Stables. Image: Giulia McGauran</figcaption></figure><a href="http://precinct.finearts-music.unimelb.edu.au/2018/05/11/welcome-to-the-stables-a-new-world-class-arts-facility-in-melbournes-arts-precinct/">Click here</a> for an in depth tour of the building by KTA Principal, Kerstin Thompson.

Lead image: Trevor Mein
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KTA lends its design nous to 'The Stables'

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Augmented planning rules introduced over recent years has made it impossible for the 'skinny skyscraper' to grace the vast majority of inner Melbourne's skyline. That is, after a number of eyebrow-raising developments were approved under now defunct planning regulations.

Whilst the <a href="/new-apartments/melbourne-vic">CBD</a> and <a href="/new-apartments/southbank-vic-3006">Southbank</a> may be off limits, a proposal has landed upon Elizabeth Street that looks to keep the typology viable in Melbourne. Kerstin Thompson Architects are the driving force behind <a href="/developments/melbourne-vic-3000">656-658 Elizabeth Street</a>, with the hope of realising a 15-storey tower on a 169sqm site.

Carrying a 7.9m frontage to Elizabeth Street, the site also fills in another relatively minuscule plot along the thoroughfare that has been subject to intense development over the past decade.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image129_0.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="A street level perspective. Planning image: Kerstin Thompson Architects"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="452" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image129_0.jpg?itok=irF_1OXN" title="A street level perspective. Planning image: Kerstin Thompson Architects" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>A street level perspective. Planning image: Kerstin Thompson Architects</figcaption></figure>Whilst not a skyscraper in the strictest interpretation, 656-658 Elizabeth Street does fall into the 'skinny' category, with the project's particulars reflecting this.

Ground floor will host a 21.6sqm retail tenancy with the immediate two floor above hosting offices; both of which carry 123sqm floor plates. Apartments planned within the tower are varied in size, ranging up to four bedroom dwellings set over split levels. 10 dwellings will be included within the tower which will be serviced by 3 basement levels.

In order to facilitate the development, an 1870's era building onsite will be demolished.

A former foundry, the single-storey structure falls within the Elizabeth Street North (Boulevard) Precinct is a graded heritage building. The development's proponents argue that its loss and the subsequent tower "will not have an unacceptable impact on the character, appearance or identified significance of the heritage place that is...Elizabeth Street North (Boulevard) Precinct."

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image128_2.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Phoenix Flinders Street &amp; Collins House. Images: Bosco Johnson &amp; Golden Age"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="423" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image128_2.jpg?itok=yhsVaNnw" title="Phoenix Flinders Street &amp; Collins House. Images: Bosco Johnson &amp; Golden Age" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Phoenix Flinders Street &amp; Collins House. Images: Bosco Johnson &amp; Golden Age</figcaption></figure>Although not of their scale, 656-658 Elizabeth Street is reminiscent of Phoenix Apartments and <a href="/buildings/collins-house-melbourne-460-466-collins-street-melbourne">Collins House</a>; both super skinny residential towers.

Prior to Planning Minster Richard Wynne's regulatory intervention, towers such as Phoenix Apartments were touted as becoming more prevalent across Melbourne's CBD owing to the decreasing number of viable large sites available for development. Rising 28 storeys, the site which Phoenix Apartments sits upon spans a mere 6.7m.

Perhaps better described as a skinny tower, 656-658 Elizabeth Street's fate is with City of Melbourne. Lodged during January, the Elizabeth Street project is currently at advertising prior to City of Melbourne deciding whether there is still a place for the skinny tower in Melbourne.
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Is there still a place for the 'skinny skyscraper' in Melbourne?

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Recently Michael Smith and Sonia Sarangi sat down for an in depth conversation with Kerstin Thompson, one of Melbourne’s most highly respected architects, to discuss the built environment, form making and the relentless negotiation required to create excellent architecture.

This continues from the <a href="/news/negotiating-form-qa-with-kerstin-thompson">first part of the interview</a>.

<hr>
Michael Smith: Previously you’ve spoken about your architecture as being a gradient architecture. Is this a conscious benchmark or is it a result of the process?

Kerstin Thompson: I wrote about gradients a long time ago – the thinking came from a classic late 80s training in architecture where all oppositions were being challenged. Anything that was black or white I was always looking for the grey. You think about things on a spectrum rather than one or the other. The article reflected on the kinds of formal outcomes a gradient architecture might offer. I think that idea still permeates through a lot of our projects where the situation presented is not an either or it’s an in-between and you need to formulate a response to that.

In relation to our Deakin School of Architecture and Built Environment / A+B this idea of gradients relates to different kinds of spaces and how they relate to each other. The school’s existing floorplan was highly cellular and comprised of discrete spaces. We shifted this to a more fluid arrangement, rethinking the formal binaries of public vs private spaces, smaller spaces to bigger spaces, intimate space/open space, quiet space/loud space. Exploring the space between these two ends is often an important driver our projects. You offer a range of spaces and it makes available different sorts of positions; people find their preference and make their choices within that.

MS: So it is a deliberate strategy to put that in?

KT: Yes I think it is. It came from when I was teaching in the early 90s at RMIT. I was doing my Masters and I became interested in all the figure grounds we used to do in black and white. I thought about what it might look like if you thought about a grey rather than black or white; what are these confused in-between things? Whether it’s the public/private conundrum of the shopping mall; what is that, that’s not a black or a white. Much later when KTA began working in heritage contexts we found ourselves needing to respond to neighbourhood character but we didn’t want to do this through direct imitation. There’s a way of transforming but also having some continuity with where you are. That’s an in-between. They were early examples in the practice and I think that’s something we’ve tried to build on.

Sonia Sarangi: That is a very rich approach and I can connect to that, but I wonder whether sometimes if that approach takes a bit more convincing. Our human nature is to look at black and white, you are picking the harder route.

KT: True. I remember years ago when we were working on the <a href="http://kerstinthompson.com/index.php?id=24">Upside Down House</a> in Middle Park – that project was exactly that. There was a heritage listing on an existing house on the site but the house was in a very poor state structurally. Even though it had a listing on it the council said a case could be made to pull it down. However, we had to demonstrate that what replaced it would be a better outcome. We spent 2 years proposing various iterations but still had to go to VCAT because we couldn’t get council support. My argument was that while this building didn’t mimic the form of its neighbours, its holistic approach to site was entirely appropriate for the pattern of the neighbourhood. Form isn’t the only key.

<figure><a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/upside-down-house-sketch.png"><img alt="Upside Down House section, Kerstin Thompson Architects" height="180" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" src="https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/upside-down-house-sketch.png?w=640&amp;h=180" srcset="https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/upside-down-house-sketch.png?w=640&amp;h=180 640w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/upside-down-house-sketch.png?w=1280&amp;h=360 1280w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/upside-down-house-sketch.png?w=150&amp;h=42 150w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/upside-down-house-sketch.png?w=300&amp;h=84 300w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/upside-down-house-sketch.png?w=768&amp;h=216 768w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/upside-down-house-sketch.png?w=1024&amp;h=288 1024w" style="border:none;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto;" width="640"></a>

<figcaption>Upside Down House section, Kerstin Thompson Architects</figcaption></figure>So much heritage discussion then revolved around whether you are either exactly like your neighbours or you’re a juxtaposition attempting to slam dunk the suburb. I explained it would be a subtle building that didn’t look like its neighbours but still had a quietness to it. But they didn’t believe me. Council wondered why would any architect be advocating for that? Well, because we’ve always maintained that a good building doesn’t have to stand out. Anyway, when the project was eventually built it ended up winning the City of Port Phillip’s local design awards for new house.

SS: It is a rich irony that Port Phillip obviously loved the finished building.

KT: They did. The reason they gave for blocking it was: “Kerstin we know you’ll do a reasonable job but this will set a precedent and then we could get bad versions of it.” Point being, I see it as council’s problem to stop the bad versions not the good ones. Anyway, when the jury came they drove past the house twice because they missed it. I said: “See I told you it was low key”.

MS: Do you see your architecture as being particularly Australian, or is this perception a by-product of integrating your architecture so successfully with Australian landscapes?

KT: That’s a really good question. I think we probably understand our work both within a local repertoire and a global one. Yes you have your local reference points and whether that’s contemporary peers or older peers. For example, Boyd and Grounds, Baracco + Wright and all that mob from when I grew up. More recently current peers I’d say NMBW’s interests, some of Michael Markham’s work for example. There are peers I have a great respect for and there are interests common to us. I think there’s the bigger global discipline and you’re always trying to situate your work within that but also draw from it too. There’s also the idea of acting locally with a building. Not so much in the formal sense of what an Australian building looks like but more that it does something to help place-make in its situation, and help reinforce valued aspects of the local condition.

It can also be more explicit than that. For our design for <a href="http://kerstinthompson.com/index.php?id=20">Ivanhoe House</a>, for example, it felt important to draw on the incredible architectural heritage of the suburb. Neighbourhood character is one of the planning requirements but I don’t have a lot of time for that generic contemporary. Instead we looked to Harold Desbrowe Annear as a reference point knowing that he had a body of work in that suburb and also because it fitted with the client’s preference for a slightly arts and crafts type building. We thought let’s look to a local precedent with that being part of what we interpret for the building.

One of the other things I’ve noticed is that a lot of our buildings are very long and low. Sometimes, I think, this has stemmed from a desire to make sense of the vastness of the site. When you don’t have a defined site, you have to use the built form to define the territory. It started with the <a href="http://kerstinthompson.com/index.php?id=27">Lake Connewarre House </a>but you can also see it with <a href="http://kerstinthompson.com/index.php?id=38">Marysville Police Station</a> and <a href="http://kerstinthompson.com/index.php?id=18">Hanging Rock House</a>. It’s where we’ve attenuated the buildings into length to help define the space around it.

It’s almost turning the building into a wall of sorts, and you use that to make it less about a figure and more about trying to harness a territory adjacent to it. Sometimes I think that might be a response to our bigness of horizon, our wideness and our flatness. It’s something I’d like to give a bit more thought to.

MS: You have done a few police station projects. What I find interesting about that building type is that despite the substantial functional requirements and a consistent client, the finished buildings are diverse.

KT: That’s true. I have tried to write a bit about this because it goes back to that question around making an architecture of a situation. The police stations are a nice example of that because the brief is the same. Often people justify built forms through program, whereas if the program is consistent across, say four projects, then what varies the outcome? That’s been really fascinating to wrestle with. That’s where we thought interestingly form was one of those devices. Same program but how we arrange it has a really big impact on how it operates on its site.

With Marysville it gets dragged out. It’s a long building along the edge of a park and that’s because we wanted to create more interface with interiors of the station looking out to the green space rather than just a tiny little shop front and then a long deep plan. By contrast with Warrandyte and Hurstbridge, which were done together, they are both in green belt suburbs in Melbourne. To camouflage them in their landscapes, we took an approach to brick detailing that was friendly and endearing: to reflect the greenness of the communities we used green bricks. With Marysville, we used timber instead. Through formal differences, the arrangement of program, and material choices those buildings fit more appropriately to their situations. The situation is what changes in the brief. The program is the same.

<figure><a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-police-station.jpg"><img alt="Marysville Police Station by Kerstin Thompson Architects. (Photo credit: Trevor Mein) " height="437" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" src="https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-police-station.jpg?w=640&amp;h=437" srcset="https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-police-station.jpg?w=640&amp;h=437 640w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-police-station.jpg?w=1280&amp;h=874 1280w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-police-station.jpg?w=150&amp;h=102 150w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-police-station.jpg?w=300&amp;h=205 300w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-police-station.jpg?w=768&amp;h=524 768w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-police-station.jpg?w=1024&amp;h=699 1024w" style="border:none;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto;" width="640"></a>

<figcaption>Marysville Police Station by Kerstin Thompson Architects. Photo credit: Trevor Mein</figcaption></figure><figure><a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-elevation.png"><img alt="Marysville Police Station elevation. Kerstin Thompson Architects" height="396" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" src="https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-elevation.png?w=640&amp;h=396" srcset="https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-elevation.png?w=640&amp;h=396 640w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-elevation.png?w=150&amp;h=93 150w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-elevation.png?w=300&amp;h=186 300w, https://theredandblackarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marysville-elevation.png 750w" style="border:none;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto;" width="640"></a>

<figcaption>Marysville Police Station elevation. Kerstin Thompson Architects</figcaption></figure>MS: In addition to running a highly successful architecture practice you are also involved in architecture education both here in Melbourne and New Zealand. It seems that for the longest time the mantra of architects looking at the current education system is one of concern that it’s not what it used to be. How do you think our institutions are preparing the next generation of architects? Are they on track or do we need to shake it up?

KT: One thing I touched on earlier is the strange resistance to housing as an agenda for architecture schools. Some academics consider it too difficult, others that it’s got no speculative potential. But I think it’s strange in education for us to be resisting a major and important endeavour. Another issue is the enduring emphasis on the single author project in schools. I would still say that most studios run with about 20 students working in parallel, maybe on the same brief but individually. Something I’ve tried to do in my own teaching programs is set up opportunities for familiarizing students with a much more negotiated practice that I think architecture is and which I think has enormous design opportunity too. Studios where for instance there’s a very high level of interfacing of other student’s work in the outcome.

An example is a studio I did I think it was about 2004 at RMIT, I’ve since run different versions of it. There were 3 different projects. The first was about building a piece of infill. That’s simple interface, you just have to interface your site with the adjoining ones first thing. Then we bumped it up where it was a row housing project and if there was 20 students in the class they each did one of the houses in the row. They had two neighbours, they had a live, contingent interface that could change outside and they had to respond to that. That was the row house. Then the third part was when instead of just having 2 moving edges you had them in every possible interface on the QV site and they all worked out how they would Masterplan and organize the whole site now overlapping and moving through each other.

The point of all of that was to teach an appreciation for non-static context, which I think is in every way what practice is like every day. It’s contingent, you’re constantly getting thrown curve balls, and it’s how you negotiate and manage that and what you can extract out of it. I think that’s how good buildings come about. That’s a very valuable skill to have. The tragedy of architectural culture, and even the recent talk with Darren Anderson covered this, is how students do their final project at school and it’s as if it’s the greatest moment in their thinking and then they get into practice and it’s all depressing and downhill. That’s the exact opposite of what I think an architect should be thinking. I actually think you’ll get out of school and you’ll be so glad to have these real conditions to try and extract good architecture out of. I think it’s teaching an appreciation for the messiness as the potential and if you’ve got the tools to channel that then that’s where good architecture happens. I’d like more of that in education.

SS: I don’t think I ever heard the word negotiation once in my 5 years of education. That’s the sad thing and that’s every day now. That word just never comes up in school.

KT: It’s relentless. All you do is negotiate.

MS: Thank you very much for your time.

This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2016/11/13/negotiating-form-qa-with-kerstin-thompson-part-2/">The Red &amp; Black Architect blog</a>.
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redblackarchitect

Negotiating Form: Q+A with Kerstin Thompson (Part 2)

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Kerstin Thompson is one of Australia’s most respect architects. Her practice Kerstin Thompson Architects was established in 1994 and has delivered architectural excellence across a broad spectrum of project types from education projects, police stations and commercial fit outs, as well as multi-residential and single bespoke homes.

Recently Michael Smith and Sonia Sarangi sat down for an in depth conversation with Kerstin to discuss the built environment, form making and the relentless negotiation required to create excellent architecture.

Michael Smith: As one of Melbourne’s leading architects, how do you evaluate the development of our city? What do you think we’re doing well and where do we need to lift our game?

Kerstin Thompson: I often bang on about how housing matters because most construction activity is housing. If you get housing wrong you’re buggering up your city. In my teaching in Wellington, but also in my practice here, I often lead research around higher density forms of housing.

Recently one of my thesis students did an interim presentation to an academic from Newcastle University on the topic and his comment was “it’s so unusual seeing thesis projects on housing. In Newcastle we think it’s too hard so we don’t encourage students to tackle it.” I thought what a failure not to ask students to think about a substantial part of the city’s formation.

MS: It’s an extraordinary approach.

KT: It is. I’m always surprised that housing is seen as a prosaic topic in universities, that it’s not viewed as a place for innovation and good thinking. I think we’re realizing that Melbourne, despite priding itself on its architectural cultural, is missing the mark in terms of housing quality. This crisis is reflected in the design of minimum standards but it’s 10 years too late. That said, any turnaround is something.

MS: That leads directly into my second question, which is exactly on those draft apartment standards. Are they a good result or a missed opportunity?

KT: They’re a good start. Minimum size always alarms me because I do think there are cases where size is not the determinant of a living space’s quality or public realm benefit. When I brought a group of students over from Wellington earlier this year we went on a housing tour that took in Cairo Apartments – a classic case of where very small spaces can have an incredibly high level of amenity because of their relationship to garden or to outside.

I know that’s a low density version compared to high rise but there are many cases to be made for small that’s well designed and meets a whole lot of other liveability criteria.

What I’m not sure about is how much needs to be discretionary or mandatory. I think you’ve always got to allow for alternatives and exceptions. By way of example, we’re currently doing a project in a suburb in the inner north that’s involved an interesting negotiation around the relationship of the development to a boundary setback.

The local council has been ahead of the curve in developing its own apartment design code. The challenge for us was a section of the code pertaining to varied setbacks depending on a spatial use (bedroom, living room) and the height of the building (how many storeys). Essentially if you had blank walls and relied on borrowed light from other rooms it was a lot easier to meet the code than incorporating windows and having to adjust your setback.

It was a classic case where you know potential quality is being lost if the code is followed. We thought it was more generous to have a 3-metre setback because every apartment in the scheme has a double aspect and maximum cross flow ventilation. That was a fundamental principle that directed all of the massing across the site. We weren’t reliant on this rear setback, it’s only secondary, but we know it’s better for those apartments and we also think it had some benefits for the future development of the adjoining side.

Council has obviously adopted the code for a reason but then you begin to see its unintended consequences. So begins a larger discussion around discretionary aspects and being able to espouse the merits of an alternative. That’s probably one of our big hurdles, that a level of expertise and resourcing is required within council to review individual designs. You can see why it doesn’t happen, but it’s only through challenging these codes that we find new ways of doing things.

We had a case, again I’m trying to be concrete, a few years ago with a site in Fitzroy which has a 2-storey heritage base. We felt that if we put the new building in line above that the development – compared to the usual wedding cake setbacks – would be more appropriate to the morphology of Fitzroy. Also, that a perimeter block development provided better internal amenity for the development because you could do dual aspect. Even though it defied all the usual heritage defaults of setbacks from the historic façade, we pushed really hard and eventually got council support.

So it becomes a question of constantly challenging the default and approaching projects from first principles, which sometimes means high risk because you are saying to your client I actually think questioning this will get a better outcome but it’s a less predictable process that we might have to go through. That’s the scary part because it’s on your head if it doesn’t work.

MS: So to summarize your position, the apartment standards are good but they can’t be definitive. We need to have people who understand the issues to be able to provide exceptions to the rules, where appropriate.

KT: That’s right, and the intelligence to recognize when a diversion from a default is a much better outcome. How you would measure a better outcome is you would always assess it within the development, but around the development too.

“Housing always has to have a level of mutual benefit for its situation.”

That’s another little test you apply. Yes it’s good for the development but as long as it’s not jeopardizing or offsetting a problem from your site onto someone else’s site.

MS: One of the biggest changes globally that we have seen in the last few years in architecture is the rise of parametric design. Do you see this as a style in itself similar to say art deco, or is it more simply a tool that some architects will use to explore complex forms?

KT: I think it’s really interesting. Recently I went to the talk at the Boyd Foundation by Darren Anderson, who wrote the book Imaginary Cities. His talk was about future visions and they necessarily tell you more about the present out of which they came. Also that future visions tend towards this idea of tabula rasa.

That they’re often presented without any understanding or concession to the existing layer of stuff that will be there. They’re strangely outside of time. Anyway, the point in relation to your question was he showed many future visions for Melbourne and he dug up all of these extraordinary schemes. Some of which I’d seen before but others were really new to me.

One of them was from the 70s that was a scheme done on the Jolimont Railway.

Sonia Sarangi: Yes, those are some really crazy schemes.

KT: The wildest form making. Except for the fact that it was rendered through hand, it was a hand drawing. It looked like the sorts of projects I’ve seen recently coming out of RMIT’s parametric studios. I found it fascinating. Partly because there were these direct formal parallels using an old technology and a new technology.

It’s interesting in that it tells you it’s not necessarily the tool that’s determining the forms. He also showed Mendelsohn’s Einstein Tower and you see this formal interest from early in the 20th century through to this one in the 70s in Melbourne. It’s interesting where there’s a formal intent and you just pick your tool to get to that.

The extent to which the tool can enable a new formal intent, that is something I’ve seen in the more innovative parametric studies, and again at RMIT, the thesis work there with Roland Snooks and his students. I think the possibility of these self-proliferating formal processes is really interesting. Revit, for example, which is more for the purposes of documentation and procurement benefits is not necessarily for a formal end. Why is that? Possibly because formally it doesn’t help our language or our architecture.

I will say that a long, long time ago, ’97 when we did an early project for RMIT, it was a technology estate project. It was a twisted form we were attempting to develop, which was to do with solar orientation on this curve site, et cetera. I remember having to go and find one of my old students to help me model it because with my auto CAD skills it was never going to happen.

That was a nice moment where I completely understood this need for another tool to generate a 3D model.

SS: Do you ever worry that it might plant the seed for a certain kind of … I don’t want to use the world laziness.

KT: Absolutely. But it’s a complex one because on the one hand a lot of discussion in architecture is not necessarily to do with form making, and I do think that there are high risks when it’s the number 1 priority because it can result in an excess and wilfulness that I associate with problematic buildings. I know that on the one hand we fight form as a key driver or manifestation of architectural thinking.

On the other I also realize that if we think of what we do as architects it is about making a physical space out of matter, and inevitably that is a creation of form.

I also recognize that some of our buildings have been identified for a clarity of form making. It’s not that they’re anti-form either, which I know some people will try to argue. I still think we always have this problem with form, but it is that extent to which it is a square peg/round hole problem. I think that’s when I question it, and how you find a form. I tried to describe this in a recent talk on ethics at the Robin Boyd Foundation in relation to the idea of accommodation.

To accommodate sounds like whatever comes in as a force within the making of a project you just take on board unquestioningly. It’s not saying that. It’s saying that all projects have various forces on them and our job, I think, is to accommodate those but through an intent of sorts.

You are still doing something with these forces that is directed somehow. It’s not just whatever. I think that’s where bad architecture has an intent that is divorced from the forces it has to navigate and it just has determination to apply those regardless of whether it’s the right thing or not. That was partly where I was getting into an ethics of architecture that you have to wrestle with these considerations, it’s our duty to do that.

Also for a disciplinary contribution you’re trying to wrestle and doing something with those that achieves something of integrity especially.

Continued in the <a href="/news/negotiating-form-qa-with-kerstin-thompson-part-2">second part of this interview</a>.

This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2016/11/07/negotiating-form-qa-with-kerstin-thompson-part-1/">The Red &amp; Architect Blog</a>.
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Negotiating Form: Q+A with Kerstin Thompson

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Best known as the home of GTV-9 for a good part of half a century, the first stage of <a href="http://www.lendlease.com/site-settings/splashpage.aspx">Lend Lease</a>'s <a href="http://www.studioninerichmond.com.au/">Studio Nine</a> development on Bendigo Street in Richmond has been completed, with residents recently moving in. Designed by <a href="http://www.kerstinthompson.com/">Kerstin Thompson Architects</a> (KTA) the project involved the adaptive re-use of the former Wertheim Piano Factory building into 34 Heritage Apartments, a yet to be fitted out City of Yarra community centre (due to open in late 2014) and a couple of retail offerings - one of which is accessed via a new breezeway space linking Bendigo Street with the new internal Studio Square.

Having worked on the project for a good part of three years while at KTA, I was fortunate enough to see the project through from inception to just before completion and as the title of this article suggests - I believe it was worth the effort.

<h2>Brief history</h2>

The Heritage listed, Federation Free-style Wertheim Piano Factory was designed by architect Nahum Barnet for German-born Hugo Wertheim in 1909, becoming the first piano factory to be constructed in Victoria and the largest in Australia, employing 300 workers and producing 2,000 pianos per annum. Its construction was part of the movement away from the importation of goods with local manufacturing favoured, which in turn led to Wertheim's reputation for producing fine pianos. The foundation stone laid by then Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin on the 21st of October 1908 is still visible from Bendigo Street.

The red brick building features rendered mouldings and detailing, a terracotta roof and dual double storey turrets flanking a single storey spine topped by a gabled roof. A rendered curved parapet once adorned by the names Wertheim and Heinz today carries Studio Nine Richmond.

In March 1935 the building became the new domicile of Heinz, retrofitted to become a tinned food factory. Initially employing 75 workers and beginning with production of bottled horse radish, by 1948 Heinz was producing over 13 million cans a year at the facility. Despite adding further floorspace and equipment Heinz had ultimately outgrown the site and in October 1955 sold the Bendigo Street site to GTV-9.

Occupying the facility from 1957 to 2011, it soon became known as 'Television City'. Television productions such as The Graham Kennedy Show, The Don Lane Show, Nine News, In Melbourne Tonight, Hey, Hey It's Saturday, The Footy Show (AFL) and many more were filmed, adding to the site's already rich history.

For more information on the significance of the Wertheim Piano Factory see the following: <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/reports/report_place/4454">http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/reports/report_place/4454</a>.

<img alt="" height="621" src="/sites/urbanmelbourne.info/files/pictures/article-images/wertheim_0.jpg" title=" KTA" width="930">

<h2>Design methodology</h2>

<blockquote>
We started by looking at the building - what key aspects needed to be retained, conserved and restored, what needed to be transformed.
Inside, in the courtyard, we had more latitude for dramatic changes. They are still changes that are subtle, but retain the key attributes of the original building. Some apartments will have upgraded steel-framed windows … it was about making the building work thermally and acoustically. Looked at from the outside, every apartment has its own variation, is not uniform. Each apartment has its little quirks.
<cite>Kerstin Thompson.</cite>
</blockquote>

The strategies employed consisted of addition, subtraction and restoration. The primary facades along Jago, Bendigo and Khartoum Streets were restored with as few new architectural interventions as possible. These were limited to new decks, fences, privacy screens and A/C enclosures. The turrets and Bendigo Street mezzanine apartments all feature steel windows - the remainder being powdercoated aluminium frames.

Additions and subtractions were made to secondary facades facing Studio Square which had been altered over the course of the building's life - openings re-instated, new openings made and new structures added. These were designed to contrast and compliment rather than imitate or compete with the existing fabric.

To allow for the provision of a new vehicular thoroughfare to the western side of the heritage precinct about 20m of the southern wing once housing Studio 01 was demolished as well as a number of the roof trusses which over time had become compromised structurally. The new western facade to the south wing was recessed to signify that it was once a longer structure.

The restoration process involved demolition of ancillary and non-significant structures, layers of paint were stripped away, hard plaster cleaned and repaired, brick piers rebuilt, brick work re-pointed and restored while new terracotta roof tiles and roof sheeting were laid. Paint colours were picked in consultation with Bryce Raworth and Heritage Victoria but for the most, concrete mouldings, cappings and ornaments were left unfinished save for a lick of sealant.

<h2>Project team</h2>

<ul>
<li>Client: <a href="http://www.lendlease.com/Australia/Sectors/apartments.aspx" target="_blank">Lend Lease Apartments</a>
</li>
<li>Contractor:<a href="http://www.lendlease.com/worldwide/capabilities/project-management-and-construction" target="_blank"> Lend Lease Project Management &amp; Construction</a>
</li>
<li>Architect: <a href="http://www.kerstinthompson.com/" target="_blank">Kerstin Thompson Architects</a>
</li>
<li>Landscape Architect: <a href="http://www.oculus.info/" target="_blank">Oculus</a>
</li>
<li>Heritage Consultant: <a href="http://bryceraworth.com.au/" target="_blank">Bryce Raworth</a>
</li>
<li>Structural Engineer: <a href="http://www.robertbird.com/" target="_blank">Robert Bird Group</a>
</li>
<li>Traffic &amp; Civil: <a href="http://www.cardno.com/en-us/Locations/Pages/Australasia.aspx" target="_blank">Cardno</a>
</li>
<li>Services Engineer: <a href="http://murchie.com.au/" target="_blank">Murchie Consulting</a>
</li>
<li>Acoustics: <a href="http://www.renzotonin.com.au/" target="_blank">Renzo Tonin &amp; Associates</a>
</li>
<li>Fire Services: <a href="http://jpfire.com.au/" target="_blank">JP Fire</a>
</li>
<li>Building Surveyor: <a href="http://www.philipchun.com.au/" target="_blank">Philip Chun &amp; Associates</a>
</li>
<li>Planning Consultant: <a href="http://www.contour.net.au/" target="_blank">Contour</a>
</li>
</ul>
Please enjoy the photos from my walk around in the slideshow below.
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Kerstin Thompson Architects

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