Image Credit : Drawings - Fieldwork
Photos - Hacer Group
Project Overview
Encore Cremorne is built on the traditional land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, situated on a tight city fringe site with the redevelopment of a heritage listed early 20th century industrial building. Our new addition is a seven-storey office building designed to provide exceptional commercial amenity in the fast-growing business district. Our architectural vision was to design a building that embraced Cremorne’s future while celebrating its industrial past; opening up a deliberate dialogue between old and new. A glass curtain wall floats above the retained single-storey heritage façade, folded away from the corner and peeled back on the eastern side, allowing some breathing room to the original building. The long southern elevation is articulated with a pleated curtain wall facade, paying homage to the traditional saw tooth rooves of the area. Premium end of trip facilities are provided for building occupants, along with a rooftop pavilion with extensive landscaped areas providing green communal spaces and functional external work zones with city views. Passive sustainability measures are integrated into the building’s design and orientation, alongside active measures such as a photovoltaic solar array, e-charging facilities in the car stacker system and water capture and re-use. The heritage façade has been retained and restored, with a series of new openings allowing multiple entry points into to the hospitality tenancies and improving the pedestrian interface with the Cremorne context of small laneways and narrow streets.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Architecture: Joachim Holland, Tim Brooks, Kara Kim, Shin Kil, Will Anderson
Client: CostaFox Developments
Landscape: Openwork
Interiors: Mim Design
Services Engineer: Stantec
Structural Engineer: Webber
Planning: Contour
Builder: Hacer Construction
Project Brief
Responding to a growing demand for quality office spaces that reflect the high standards of Cremorne’s business community, Encore Cremorne needed to set a new benchmark in commercial development, while providing spaces in which businesses and employees can grow. Open and flexible floor plates delivered to a ‘warm shell’ fit out were required to allow for multiple tenancy configurations. In a rapidly changing market, the new development was required to respect the existing character of the neighbourhood while providing exceptional amenity. A building that dynamically responds to the changing environment while dealing sensitively with the existing heritage fabric.
Project Innovation/Need
Council heritage officers required a large setback from the heritage southern frontage which reduced the viability of a commercial building on the site. The design of the building needed to sensitively respond to Council’s requirements while still providing the desired scale of development to suit market demand. To address this, a larger setback was provided to the south-west corner to give prominence to the original expression of the façade. The curtain wall is then set back on Level 01 to provide the required ‘breathing room’ to the original building, however we were able to utilise the pleated sawtooth geometry on the levels above to encroach into the setback, making use of the building geometry to satisfy Council requirements while creating additional leasable area for the client. Careful and considered setbacks were created to the upper levels to further articulate the building mass and address sightline concerns from the middle to far distance. These setbacks created additional external terraces for the upper-level occupants. Overall, the outcome provides high quality commercial amenity while enhancing the existing Cremorne landscape and embracing its past.
Design Challenge
The existing facades provide an example of the industrial development of Cremorne in the early twentieth century. Working with Bryce Raworth Heritage the façades underwent careful conservation and restoration works. The Southern façade saw the reinstatement of original features such as door openings, render work, paint removal and tuckpointing to brickwork, refurbished timber window joinery and render repair work in original lime rich render. The simpler western façade was structurally propped during construction and refurbished with new large windows with steel reveals. New entrances to the lobby and hospitality and retail tenancies activate the ground plane and were created in original window locations to maintain the rhythm of the streetscape.
Sustainability
Passive sustainability measures are integrated into the building design, with fixed vertical glass blades on the western exterior provide solar shading from the afternoon sun, with the extent of glass reduced to the East and North to help reduce overall building heat gain. High performance double glazing to the South minimises heat loss whilst providing expansive views. Carparking numbers were reduced from statutory requirements by 74% in acknowledgement of the site’s excellent connection to public transport networks, and e-charging facilities within the fully automated car stacker are provided to support low-emission vehicles, alongside end-of-trip facilities to promote active transport methods and reduce greenhouse emissions. Solar photovoltaic panels on the roof contribute to common area energy demands. Additional landscape zones are provided to three terraces, creating green space in an area deficient of local outdoor amenity, with water storage and reuse on site.
Architecture - Commercial - Constructed
This award celebrates the design process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. Consideration given for material selection, technology, light and shadow.
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