Project: The Village Centre, Kelvin Grove

Awards: Winner of the UDIA 2007 QLD President’s Award,
UDIA QLD 2007 Multi-level Development Award,
RAIA 2008 Brisbane Region Multi Residential Award

Project Description:

The Village Centre is at the heart of the Kelvin Grove Urban Village re-development and is a landmark project within the master plan.

This project has a number of innovations that are unique and specially developed to address specific challenges. Sustainable design principles formed the conceptual framework for the project.

The brief from the Government’s design review committee called for 4 different building designs each with a different architectural expression. The cost plan and marketing brief however called for minimization of the number of unit types and a cost effective design. These seemingly opposed requirements led to the innovative solution of a single design for the four blocks for efficiency. With 4 street frontages, an apartment block was positioned on each corner of the site. The orientation was rotated and the colours, finishes, roof and balustrade detailing varied to give the appearance of four different designs.

Natural ventilation of all units was set as the goal for this project. The most efficient plan layout for a residential tower is for apartments to cluster around a central core. This invariably means that some units have only one external wall, which precludes natural cross ventilation. Two unique innovations allowed us to achieve natural cross ventilation to all tower apartments in this development. Firstly we designed a central core with the escape stair open to the outside and to the lift lobby. This provided a flow path for fresh air through the stair. Secondly we provided a breezeway lobby to units with one external wall that is secure and allows free air movement, thus allowing air movement through the unit by way of the open stair. This feature works so well in practice that several unit owners have retrofitted the breezeway lobby to units with 2 external walls to enhance their comfort levels. On site fire engineering tests proved that the design was safe and prevented smoke logging of corridors.

This development showcases practical application of sustainability principles and innovation within an effectively integrated residential/retail community.