A unified site design configures the two buildings with shared pedestrian and vehicle circulation and basement below. Using the topography of the site, the majority of car parking is below natural ground creating a pedestrian friendly shared podium at the Samford Road level and an active retail frontage to Wardell Street. This stepping of levels also reduces the bulk and scale of the two buildings and promotes connectivity through the site without creating a vehicle rat-run thoroughfare. Landscape is an important component to the development, complimenting the subtropical design elements and providing opportunities for shaded outdoor spaces, attractive privacy screening and buffering from neighbours and busy road frontages and complimenting the robust material pallet. Both buildings are setback from the road frontages with integrated landscape featuring along the edges providing a soft interface to the development and combined with awnings and shelter elements, a pedestrian friendly environment.
There is an intentional commonality in the material pallet and details used for both buildings to suggest a unified development, however each has its own distinct identity. Masonry in particular was selected for its robust characteristics and in reference to the neighbouring low and medium scale residential buildings. Building A is of commercial nature with the intent of having a medical focus over the two upper levels and ground floor pharmacy and food retail tenants fronting Wardell Street. The building addresses the intersection with a public outdoor space that bookends a pedestrian pathway through the site connecting to the Childcare Centre and Samford Rd. The low scale nature of the internal facades provide an appropriate human scale to the public spaces between buildings. Building B is a 113 place early learning childcare centre with generous landscaped outdoor spaces for both the children and centre staff. The building connects independently to the basement carpark and has its own street address to the Samford Road frontage.
Imagery
Renders by 77 Architecture
Status
Under Construction by:
Xenia Constructions
Project Team
Architect:
77 Architecture
Planning:
Mewing Planning Consultants
Needs Assessment:
Landscape Architecture:
02Landscape Architecture
Traffic:
Cardno
Engineering:
Wilkinson Shaw
Acoustic:
MWA Environmental
Air Quality:
MWA Environmental