Cox Architecture has made some adjustments to its design for the build-to-rent tower at 210 Brunswick Street, adding more apartments, removing car parks and changing the podium facade to brick to complement a neighbouring Art Deco building.
A development application to amend the approved tower design is before the City of Brisbane. The updated design retains the original 25-storeys but adds a rooftop communal recreation space and resort-style pool, bringing the amount of communal area per apartment from 2.4 square metres to 5.9 square metres. The number of apartments would go from 312 to 323, with 21 of the one-bedroom apartments to now include a multi-purpose room.
In planning documents, the architects describe how the design is informed by the Atkinson and McLay designed McWhirters Building across the street, with its sweeping curved awning, crafted brickwork expression and decorative ceramic detailing.
210 Brunswick Street build-to-rent tower by Cox Architecture.
“The response is orchestrated through a contemporary, highly crafted, brickwork podium whereby the detailing and fine grain scale of the brick contributes to the creation of a humanised streetscape in keeping with the richness of the McWhirters building,” the architects state.
“Referencing the sweeping curved awning of the McWhirters building the proposal mirrors this curved geometry to celebrate the prominence and visibility of its corner position. The expression of the new awning moves away from the Art deco expression of the past to present a fine, streamlined, bronze coloured, metal soffit to the street to allow maximum visibility through to the double height glazed lobby spaces of the building.”
Above the podium, the tower has been designed in a “tripartite arrangement” of three volumes as a means of reducing the tower’s bulk.
Vertical apertures or recesses in the building facades run between the forms to separate them into three clearly legible masses.
“The smooth, glassy, curved midsection references the adjacent FV towers whilst the bookends seek to contrast by expressing the sunshading elements recognising the buildings orientation and solar aspect,” state the architects.
The 210 Brunswick tower is one of a number of build-to-rent towers in the works being supported by a Queensland government pilot program aimed at delivering suitable housing close to the CBD. Around a quarter of the units in the building will be classified as affordable housing, with the government subsiding rent.
Subject to approvals, developer Frasers Property expects construction to kick off in late 2021.
