The Apartments - NewActon - Canberra

Who: Molonglo Group (developers) and Fender Katsalidis Architects

Types: 1 bdrm/2bdrm/3bdrm

Price range: approx $660k - $970k

Size: approx 78sqm - 140sqm

Strata: Approx. $TBC

Available: Now

Display Suite: Apartment 1110, 19 Marcus Clarke Street Canberra

The Apartments are located in the City West in central Canberra, a pocket of which is undergoing urban renewal and newly dubbed NewActon (apparently one word). This truly is a wonderful location - views to the surrounding hills on all sides, and Lake Burley Griffin just over the road (albeit a busy road). In this precinct there are several new apartment buildings, including the Nishi Apartments nearby, touted as an 8 star NatHERS (Nation Wide Home Energy Rating Scheme) rated building, currently in the early stages of construction. There is also obvious attention in the developing precinct to landscaping, creativity, and revitalisation, with cafes such as Urban Food - an organic food store and cafe that wouldn't look out of place in Surry Hills, a courtyard cinema, and the Flint Bar. Even the lobby of The Apartments is filled with artworks from the Molonglo collection, and have a strong design feel to them.

The striking lobby in The Apartments

Artwork on the other side of the lobby in The Apartments

The architects responsible for the apartments, Fender Katsalidis Architects are a highly regarded Melbourne-based architectural firm. Their past work is reflected in the highly textural, and almost sculptural approach to the building form - with its curving glass facade, and use of timber, reflective glass and concrete. There is a clear communication of the vision between architect and client here in the way that artwork is not only brought into the public urban and interior spaces in the precinct, but also then in the way the architect and landscape architect has reflected this intention in the design of the lobby spaces, the finishes in the apartments, the design intent shown in the public outdoor spaces, the overall form of the apartment tower, and even the design of the retail spaces such as the courtyard of the Flint bar.

Landscaped roof on top of The Apartments podium, below the main tower

The Apartments have a strong focus on quality and design. Full height curved glass windows in the bedrooms provide stunning views to either the lake or the mountains beyond Canberra. The spaces are generous and well finished. The use of exposed concrete ceilings and beams in the main kitchen and living area is a reminder of the intentions of the NewActon precinct, which is to bring a new, slightly gritty and creative edge to an old part of what is otherwise regarded as a city lacking the urban density to achieve the 'inner city' vibe that comes more naturally to places like Sydney and Melbourne.

Master bedroom in the 3 bdrm apartment

Living room with exposed concrete ceilings and columns

The only apartments currently still available are those in the tower, such as the one reviewd here. The loft style, podium, and terrace apartments have all sold out. Keep a look out for other upcoming developments though if this precinct appeals, such as the Nishi apartments.

1 bedroom apartments at 78sqm are approximately $660k. 2 bedroom apartments at 100sqm are approximately $840k and bedroom apartments are around the $970k mark.

Website: http://www.theapartments.com.au/

Cradle to Cradle - book review



Title: Cradle To Cradle - Remaking The Way We Make Things

Authors: Michael Braungart & William McDonough

Publisher: Vintage Books, London

One of our aims in this blog is to highlight aspects of sustainability in new apartments. They're not necessarily the first questions you ask the developer, agent or architect when you're looking to buy, but we want to emphasise this in the reviews we do as a way of offering a perspective beyond the usual real estate listings. Of course price and location are important, but what about liveability, the quality or healthiness of the interior finishes, and the sustainability, both environmental and social, of the building?

For this reason, I found this book so fascinating in the way it takes a new approaches to the familiar idea of being eco-friendly, and thought it warranted a discussion on the blog. It is called Cradle to Cradle and is written jointly by a scientist, Michael Braungart, and an architect, William McDonough. I expected when I began this book to read about many of the approaches to sustainability that I already knew about. That sounds a little presumptuous, I know - but in the sustainability field there seems to be a lot of similar, albeit great, ideas going around. This wouldn't be so bad if the world was attempting to realistically achieve any of them...but that's another story I suppose.

This book, however, does not simply go beyond the existing approaches - it clearly and engagingly outlines an argument against mere "sustainability", against the lowly ambition of being 'neutral' or 'zero', and against the idea that you must hinder growth and development in order to save the world. And I say this as a strong believer that climate change is directly related to human activity, and that we must take drastic measures to stop it. (Just for the record.)

The authors argue against the idea of the 'eco-efficiency' movement, in which "The goal is zero: zero waste, zero emissions, zero "ecological footprint....As long as human beings are regarded as 'bad,' zero is a good goal. But to be less bad is to accept things as they are, to believe that poorly designed, dishonourable, destructive systems are the best humans can do. This is the ultimate failure of the 'be less bad' approach: a failure of the imagination. From our perspective, this is a depressing vision of our species' role in the world.

"What about an entirely different model? What would it mean to be 100 percent good?" Braungart & McDonough (2009, p. 67)

The authors discuss everything from product and textile design to the design of buildings as examples of how the producer or designer of these products can, with some effort, consider the ways in which the product can not just be 'less bad' but how it can actually be completely good.

One of the first examples that got me interested early on was the description of how recycling is not really what we think it is. It is easy to assume that by putting, say, a can of soft drink into a recycling bin we are doing the right thing. True, it is still better than throwing it away, but only marginally. Most recycling, according to the authors is simply a slow downgrading of materials until they ultimately end up in land-fill. A soft-drink can for example is actually made of two different types of aluminium - a higher quality and harder aluminium is used for the top and bottom of the can, while a softer, lower grade aluminium is used for the cylindrical part. There is currently no process for separating the two materials when the can is 'recycled', so the higher quality aluminium is combined with the low-grade aluminium - which produces an overall lower grade material than the original, and it is not able to be used again for another can. It has been down-graded, but not recycled.

Another example used is that of a paperback book - something which is ostensibly completely recyclable:

"Paper is biodegradable, but the inks that printed so crisply on the paper...contain carbon black and heavy metals. The jacket is not really paper, but an amalgam of materials - wood, pulp, polymers, and coatings, as well as inks, heavy metals, and halogenated hydrocarbons. It cannot be safely composted..." Braungart & McDonough (2009, p. 68)

A second example of a book design also appears to be eco-friendly - they have opted for chlorine-free paper, as chlorine creates dioxins. But to get chlorine-free paper you need to use virgin pulp "What a quandary: pollute rivers or chew up forests?" Braungart & McDonough (2009, p. 69)

This question is a key concept throughout the book. So often the label on a product appears to be good by claiming what it doesn't contain, like "chlorine-free". But as Cradle to Cradle suggests, unless the designers have done a really thorough job, the omission of a bad ingredient doesn't always signal a 100% good and healthy product. Often there are trade-offs. 

The authors offer a third example of what they consider a truly environmentally friendly design for a book, which goes against all intuition:

"Let's imagine a book that is not a tree. It is not even paper. Instead, it is made of plastics developed around a completely different paradigm for materials, polymers that are infinitely recyclable at the same level of quality - that have been designed with their future life foremost in mind, rather than as an awkward afterthought." Braungart & McDonough (2009, p. 70)

Similarly the authors give an example of an environmentally friendly building. The first is what the current mainstream thought is on 'eco-friendly' design; the second is a complete shift in how we view eco-friendly buildings:

"We know what an eco-efficient building looks like. It is a big energy saver. It minimises air infiltration by sealing places that might leak. (The windows do not open.) It lowers solar income with dark-tinted glass, diminishing the cooling load on the building's air-conditioning system and thereby cutting the amount of fossil fuel energy used. The power plant in turn releases a smaller amount of pollutants into the environment, and whoever foots the electric bill spends less money. The local utility honours the building as the most energy-saving in its area and holds it up as a model for environmentally conscious design...." Braungart & McDonough (2009, p. 73)

A better building, suggest the authors, would do it this way: "during the daytime, light pours in. Views of the outdoors through large, untinted windows are plentiful - each of the occupants has five views from wherever he or she happens to sit. Delicious, affordable food and beverages are available to employees in a cafe that opens onto a sun-filled courtyard. In the office space, each of them controls the flow of fresh air and the temperature of their personal breathing zones. The windows open. The cooling system maximises natural airflows, as in a hacienda: at night, the system flushes the building with cool evening air, bringing the temperature down and clearing the rooms of stale air and toxins. A layer of native grasses covers the building's roof, making it more attractive to songbirds and absorbing water runoff..." Braungart & McDonough (2009, p. 74)

The second example is not ground-breaking in its particular technologies - building technologies such as night-purging is well known and currently used by some architects. The overall intention, however, is about focussing on good things - sunlight and fresh air - rather than on minimising bad things. The overall approach is positive. William McDonough, one of the authors, brought this approach to designing a factory for Herman Miller.

The book continues with many more real-life examples of projects and prototypes that were put into practice using the methodologies of cradle-to-cradle design. It is a little worrying when you get to the end of the book and realise in some ways how far we are from the ideals outlined in the book. We can't seem to even get the 'bad' ways of eco-efficiency right yet. And yet, maybe this is why we haven't got it right yet. An approach that celebrates development, growth, using something good rather than just not using something bad, and enriching the world, is surely easier to grapple with than the alternative? Or if it's not easier, the incentive of the greater quality of life found in the alternatives painted by the authors, is surely worth the effort.

  

References

Braungart, M & McDonough, W 2009, Cradle to Cradle; Re-Making the Way We Make Things, Vintage Books, London.

jasper - Surry Hills

Where: 425 Bourke Street, Surry Hills

Who: PTW Architects with SJB Interiors

Types: 1 bdrm/2bdrm/3bdrm

Price range: 440-830k

Size: approx 69sqm - 100sqm

Strata: Approx. $1000 -1500/q

Available: Now

http://www.stmargarets.com.au/ 

jasper apartments (yes, with a lower case "j") is part of a series of new and refurbished apartments on the old st Margarets Hospital site in Surry Hills, just a minute walk from Oxford Street and Taylor Square. The other apartments in the complex are the alba (refurbished from the old maternity hospital), henry (new, terrace style, split level apartments) and ivy (new 17 storey tower with city views).

It's interesting to see the difference that furniture can make in a display apartment. Most of the apartments open for inspection on levels five and six in jasper were presented as empty spaces. This highlighted to us the - what looked like - utilitarian grey woven vinyl flooring, and the often compromised, awkward spaces that were still in the process of being updated and refurbished by PTW architects and SJB Interiors.

Some of the apartments at the north western end have the a quite spectacular outlook across the length of the city, right down to the harbour bridge. One door over, however, on the north-eastern side of the building, below level 5, these apartments come face-to-face with the Ken Woolley-designed 1958 chapel, and now Object gallery, and its curved concrete panels.

The use of full height sliding walls/doors, in the1 bedroom apartments, between the bedroom and the kitchen/living, is a clever design idea allowing for great flexibility of the space. The kitchen, always adjoining an open plan living space looks more like a kitchenette. The display apartments help to rectify this by placing an attractive timber bench parallel to the "kitchenette" - creating the feel of an island bench and larger kitchen space. 

 

 Some of the balcony spaces work very well, like the north-eastern corner apartments as mentioned. All the apartments facing west have metal louvre panels that can either be tilted open while the panel is closed, or the whole panel can be opened like a casement window. The view across the city and the gentle cooling breeze on the humid day that we visited was very enticing. But what happens in the winter? Or what happens if you want to block out noise but still have light coming in? Or if you want to have some ventilation but no light. In other words, once the louvres are closed for whatever, all natural light and air is blocked out. I imagine over time this would become a source of potential frustration. On top of this, all the balconies except the ones at the north or south ends, have a 1m high concrete wall. This works well for privacy, but seems to constrict the feeling of light and openness that would otherwise come with an open or transparent balustrade.









 Overall the apartments are robust, if a little lacking in inspiration, which will appeal to investors and to those seeking to buy into the location without the expense that comes with all the bells and whistles of high-end developments.

If you choose the right apartment - you could get great views and location for a reasonable price. If you want to invest, you'd get a hardy apartment that would stand up well to wear and tear and always be in demand as a rental.

Sample floorplans:









Metro Residences - Chatswood

Where: Above Chatswood Railway Station
Who: COX & DesignInc (architects) ISPT & Galileo (developers)
Types: 1 bdrm/2bdrm/3bdrm
Price range: 470-540k (1 bdrm - NE corner); 825-985k (2 bdrm - NE corner) 

Size: approx 72sqm - 103sqm (1 & 2 bdrm)

Strata: Approx. $600-700/q (1 bdrm); $1300/q (2 bdrm)

Available: Late 2013 - Early 2014

Showroom: 391 Victoria Ave, Chatswood Open daily 10am - 4pm

 What we thought

The Chatswood development sells primarily on its excellent location - three towers (of which two are currently selling) straddling the recently redeveloped Chatswood railway station. The suburb has long been a densely populated pocket in the otherwise more roomy north shore, but this development galvanises, and even sells on, the appeal of the inner city high-rise lifestyle, only it's not in the city. 

In addition to the redeveloped Chatswood Station, which lies at the junction of the North Shore train line and new Chatswood to Epping line, is the nearly completed Civic Place. It will comprise on a new, and so far quite stunning looking, public library, a concert hall and theatre and large landscaped public space. If Chatswood was previously the suburb of the shopping mall and the high rise, Civic Place has the potential to reinvigorate and enliven the key corridor from the Station right down Victoria Avenue to Chatswood Chase.
Without a display unit (save a mock-up of a bathroom & kitchen), what we discern from the architecture renders and building model shows a competently executed development with a good standard of finishes. An openess of space is immediately apparent with its generous floor to ceiling windows through the apartment. Openable windows offer an opportunity for natural ventilation, however, the lack of apparent external sunshading on the facade seems to subtract from that green intention. The wintergardens offer a transition space between interior and exterior, without creating the all-too-often ugly balcony spaces that don't get much use except as storage spaces.
The "VIP" expired on February 15th, which allowed prospective buyers to register their interest with a deposit. The official sale launch date is the 5th March.

http://www.metroresidences.com.au/

Sugar Dock - Pyrmont

Where: 41 Refinery Drive, Pyrmont
Who: Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (architects) Lend Lease (developers)
Types: 110 apartments - 2bdrm/3bdrm
Price range: 1.2m - 2.3m
Size: approx 100sqm - 125sqm
Strata: $1400-$1500 /q
Available: now

What we thought

The Sugar Dock apartment tower is already complete and sold out. It goes without saying there are great harbour views and Anzac Bridge views on the north and west sides of the tower, and city and Harbour Bridge views to the east. 

The new overseas passenger terminal is being developed at White Bay, situated just across the water from Pyrmont, which could produce some noise or ruin the view.

The location is a good blend of quiet, almost suburban living - albeit in a tower, combined with being so close to the city. The tower will share an outdoor pool (atop the low level podium) and a gymnasium with its sister tower Silk - to be completed mid-2012. If you can afford it you can't go wrong.

 

Rating

Design: 7/10

Location: 8/10

Value: 7/10

Overall: 7.5/10

Website: www.sugardock.com.au/

 

One Central Park - continued...

The Analysis

 
The 16 storey west tower floor plate contains a combination of four 2 bedroom dual key apartments – one in each corner of the building, eight 1 bedroom suites, six 1 bedroom apartments, and two 2 bedroom apartments, both facing the pool and the east tower. The 1 bedroom apartments and suites offer compact city living with a fairly generous open plan kitchen, living and dining room and a balcony the full width of the apartment. There has been more thought put into the interior design of the apartments than most residential developments. The corridor walls, kitchen corners, and bedroom corners have all been ‘rounded off’ or ‘de-cornered’ by the clever integration of a glossy ‘pod’ that acts as a secondary curving wall that, when opened, reveals neat storage spaces.  These west tower interiors have been designed by William Smart (Smart Design Studio) with two finishes options available – “one nautical with fine timber joinery and one more automotive with the dashboard finesse of a luxury car.” (1)

The 33 storey east tower contains a combination of three 2 bedroom dual key apartments, four 1 bedroom apartments, three 2 bedroom apartments, and four 1 bedroom dual key apartments. As with the west tower the 2 bed dual key apartments are located in the corners of the floor plate, except for the north-east corner which houses a 1 bedroom apartment.  The layout of the apartments follows the same principles as the west tower, with good consideration given to the maximisation of natural light into the apartments. This is done in part by providing some narrow slits into the floor plate to allow apartments to have natural light. Some of the dual key apartments have what feels in reality, and what looks like on plan, a lot of wasted corridor space. 

 Kitchen and the glossy 'pod'

 Clever but slightly useless cupboard concealed behind the glossy 'pod'

The 1 bedroom dual key apartments are effectively two self-contained 1 bedroom studio apartments with kitchen, bathroom and living area, each with a front door within the single address. Similarly the 2 bedroom dual key apartments offer a single front door, a very long corridor leading to two more front doors. Behind one door is a 1 bedroom open plan studio identical to the 1bed dual key studio. Behind the other front door is larger apartment with 1 bedroom and even a generous alcove for a study space, very similar to the 1 bedroom apartment plan.

 Study alcove in the one of the dual-

key apartments

The east tower interiors have been designed by Koichi Takada and are more relaxed and classic than the heady gloss and colour of the Smart interiors. Takada has produced a slower-paced, muted and earthy living space using timber screens to divide spaces, and materials such as “driftwood, hammered stone, linen and woven grasses matched with copper and bronze.” (1)

 The muted Koichi Takada interior finishes

Open kitchen with slatted timber panels

Subtle stone-tiled bathroom with mirrored 

walls and a wall-mounted toilet

The off-the-plan sales prices we were given in September 2010 seemed surprisingly less than the astronomical prices we had envisaged before our inspection. The amazing location, the future amenities and parkland, the promise of not just quality but the assurance of many tried and tested design minds, and the attempt to create something bold and innovative, all suggest a high sale price. And of course, there is a range of prices with some at the luxury end of the scale, and others at the high-priced but affordable end. For example, the 2 bedroom east-facing apartment on Level 6 of the east tower is $870,000. A 1 bedroom dual apartment in the east tower, facing west, looking over the pool and the west tower, is priced at $920,000. While the south-east 2 bedroom dual key on Level 22 in the east tower is set at $1,170,000 – which is starting to seem to be a high-price to pay for a two bedroom apartment. However, the clever use of dual key apartments has made the development attractive to those who would wish to live in the complex whilst subsidising their costs by sub-letting the attached 1 bedroom apartment. 

From an investment point-of-view, given the location, the quality of the architecture and the finishes, and in light of the gradual development of other inner-city pockets it surely will become an increasingly sought-after  place to live.
The Stats

Summary of apartments sizes (typical)*

West Tower 

East Tower

 

*There are variations between apartments and between levels, but this gives an indicative overview.
** Prices not obtained

One Central Park

The old Kent Brewery on Broadway in Sydney is finally being prepared for the construction of two residential towers, designed by French architects Ateliers Jean Nouvel, and commissioned by developers Frasers Property, which is the first stage of a wider masterplan of the site, which will include a 6,400 sqm park named Central Park.

 South view of One Central Park across the proposed 

6,400 sqm park, and Jean Nouvel looking on... 

These two towers are the first stages of what is a 2 billion dollar masterplan development by Frasers Property, with eleven buildings and 1,800 apartments intended for the completed site. The Central Park development is a conglomerate of residential commercial and retail spaces. A mini enclave in the city-edge location, this development surpasses previous Sydney city developments when you take into account the scale, the prime location, and the ambition demonstrated by the developers invitation to a series of international and local design collaborators to contribute their vision to the masterplan.

The apartments in what is to become known as One Central Park are currently available for purchase off-the-plan, with display suites open for inspection on site. We are reviewing the two glass towers containing the 560 apartments that is the flagship of the residential component of this development.

One Central Park website

The site is located on the southern periphery of the Sydney CBD, nestled in between two universities in Sydney's lost bohemian heart, as touted by Frasers. The student culture coupled with the funky creative types produce an eclectic concoction of Bohemia. The Kent Brewery sits across 5.4 hectares of what ex-brewery worker Mr Walsmley described so aptly as a "large island of industry stranded in Sydney's central residential revival". SMH (2003) This ‘residential revival’ will need to fuse the student culture, the funky design industries and the inevitable influx of yuppies in a way that retains the gritty, industrial feel of the old Chippendale.

Aerial view of the proposed masterplan looking back towards the city

The neighbourly outreach towards the Chippendale precinct, especially its arts community, is heavily emphasised by Frasers. Regardless of the spirit or intention of this plan, the influx of multiple high priced residences may lead to the retreat of the edgier segments of the art industry. It will be a pity if the unique selling point of the eclectic environs could just be priced out altogether. The 3 Warehouse Frasers gallery  will hopefully go some way in addressing this possible imbalance.

Frasers commissioned UK architects Fosters and Partners, Australian architect Richard Johnson (JPW), Jeppe Argaard Andersen (a Danish landscape architect), Patrick Blanc (botanist and artist who has collaborated on many buildings with vertical green walls), Alec Tzannes and Tim Greer (of Tonkin Zulaikha Greer architects from Sydney) and Yann Kersde (a light sculptor from Paris).

The first apartments on sale are in the east and west tower, 33 and 16 storeys high respectively. The towers sit on a six level retail and recreation podium to house a Coles, Harris Farm Market, and other retail outlets. It is also planned that a Fitness First gym will be located in this podium, with free gym membership included for apartment owners. Atop this retail podium is a pool, surrounded on two sides by the east tower and the west tower. Above the pool and surrounding courtyard, suspended on a large cantilever attached to the upper levels of the tower, will be a heliostat – a large surface of fixed and movable mirrors designed to reflect sunlight down into the outdoor spaces below, and into the retail podium.

Green pockets within the towers and the heliostat above, 

cantilevered out from the east tower

At night the heliostat transforms into an LED light installation designed by light artist Yann Kersalé. It is also intended that the heliostat will produce some spectacular lighting effects at night. The towers will also be draped with a living green wall, designed by Patrick Blanc. This will hopefully be a refreshing and quite wonderful sight along the otherwise hard streetscape that is Broadway. 

Next we'll be posting reviews of the east and west tower apartments, including floor plans, photos and otherwise unpublished off-the-plan sale prices.