Commercial, Articles
Unique looking high-rise apartment compliments natural Sydney surrounds
Allen jack + cottier
UNIQUE LOOKING HIGH-RISE APARTMENT COMPLIMENTS NATURAL SYDNEY SURROUNDS
The new residential development Macquarie Park Village promises an urban oasis north-west of Sydney’s CBD and is set to be the forerunner to the new era of housing and workplace development in the area.
The multi-residential and retail project is comprised of 700 units across seven architecturally designed buildings featuring resort-style amenities and nestled along 2.24 hectares of tree-lined avenues.
Architects Allen Jack+Cottier’s design of the building forms ‘de-formalise’ the typically rigid and repetitive facades seen on multi-unit residential developments to create an organic community, each with their own unique look that compliments natural surrounds.
CREATING A COHESIVE LOOK
Creating a cohesive look for such a large-scale of buildings was critical to architects Allen Jack+Cottier’s design.
“This is a ‘family of buildings’, each with its own individual character but sharing a common architectural language” says Mark Louw, Director Architecture, Allen Jack+Cottier. “We have focused on offering alternative lifestyle choices and building typologies in the development, and making sure the housing is appropriate to the local market and context, as well as including many environmentally sustainable design features.”
THE FACADE
James Hardie’s panelised express jointed cladding system ExoTec™ Cladding was selected for the buildings’ facade for its versatility, colour and texture customisability.
Mark continues, “We chose to use the ExoTec™ Facade Panel and Fixing System with expressed joints. This allowed us to breakdown the scale of the facades with staggered joints and panels cut to considered sizes for proportion of the panelised system relative to the adjacent materials and finishes. This allowed us greater use of colour and texture too.”
“The colour palette draws from the colours of the bush, and a variety of materials and textures has been used to break up the mass of the buildings.’”
The selection of the light weight and panelled façade facilitated the accelerated approach and enabled the design to come to life as well as offering time and waste savings.
“To minimise waste the façade panels were designed to modules to suit sheet sizes, and the ExoTec Cladding panels were then painted on site. The installation team were able to cover large expanses of areas over relatively short times allowing the facades to be completed earlier than a more labour-intensive installation system and,” concludes Mark.
Related Articles
