The site
The site is located on the busy Plenty Road; one of the major arterial routes to the outer Northern suburbs. The local trams stop at the front door, travels to the city at one end and RMIT at the other.
It is a growing family area, and the land had then recently been released for tender by the Urban Land Authority
There was a Mixed Use Zoning on the site, so a combination of uses was also to be encouraged.
The brief
The site was identified by one of our regular developer clients, and we were again approached to assist with the tender application and prepare a feasibility review for development on the site.
We had recently completed a neighbouring development for this client, of some 70 Student Apartments, to serve the Latrobe University and RMIT, Bundoora campus.
During the sales period of the Student accommodation building it became apparent that there were more than just students looking for apartment buildings in the neighbourhood – but none then available
We explored a number of options for development – including a series of townhouses and apartments blocks of various scales and sizes.
The only major requirement was to provide a diversity of unit sizes, and design the building to be sold and constructed in stages
The design
Originally designed as Fully Serviced Apartments, with a variety of 1, 2 and 3 bedrooms, and a commercial component including Restaurant, Day Spa, and Gymnasium. The apartment interiors included the designed furniture and artworks.
The Tower Apartments community is truly unique. Each apartment boasts a large balcony with views to the surrounding hills.
The blocks cluster several courtyards, enhancing individual privacy and capturing distant Views.
A primarily timber clad façade within a steel grid set this collection of buildings apart from the mixed commercial and residential neighbourhood.
The structure is constructed entirely of timber, under the Multi Residential Lightweight Timber Framing Code, and the building process allowed a flow on of trades not restricted by commercial building practices, and the staged sales and construction program was integral to the design.
All four blocks are separately accessed to the basement carpark.
The Tower Apartments were the first of this type in Bundoora. Now there are many apartment blocks, but none have the rural feel that is represented here
