This is a proposal developed for a design competition for the next stage in the major Hamilton North Shore urban renewal project on the Brisbane River. The brief called for 100 apartments of varying sizes and 25 attached houses on a site that offers views over the Queensland Golf Club to the north-east and the city skyline to the south-west.
A rigorous analysis of the site and the masterplan for future stages resulted in a plan that maximises views from the apartments and frames the new urban park with terrace houses overlooking the golf course and a small creek. This strategy also enabled the project to be easily staged and ensured relative acoustic and visual privacy for all residents.
The apartments are designed for excellent cross ventilation, economy of standardisation and enhanced buildability. At five storeys, the apartment buildings are at a lower, more intimate urban scale to the street frontage and have a restrained contemporary sub-tropical character. This includes deep shading of internal spaces with operable screens allowing the residents to adjust their outlook focus, privacy and sun screening.
The attached houses are arranged in groups of four along a densely landscaped internal lane with small motor courts, avoiding the typical garage door dominated street front and creating a sense of community. The attached houses of varying size employ a limited palette of rendered masonry, timber, and metal cladding. The operable screens give each house individual character, with maximum resident comfort and privacy control. The development is carefully integrated with a lush sub-tropical landscape including a pool and other resident amenities.
