SJB has created a concept design for a new mixed-use development at 45-52 Macleay Street within the historical high-density suburb of Potts Point.
A stage-one development application submitted to the City of Sydney proposes to demolish the existing building on the site and replace it with a nine-storey building with a ground-floor retail premises and 28 residences.
According to the design report, the existing building is atypical of the urban form of Potts Point, but consistent with buildings of the post-WWII modernist building boom in form and function.
The 12-storey building houses studio apartments, all without balconies, and the internal spaces no longer meet current minimum apartment standards.
SJB said the existing functionalist building has “little regard for the beauty and delight” captured in the architectural detail of the adjacent buildings.
“The building pays no respect to its neighbours. It doesn’t try to transition through building form to the Victorian terraces to the south or west, and worse still the ground plane is dominated by private vehicle parking and service areas.”
Proposed mixed-use, nine-storey development for 45-52 Macleay Street, Potts Point, designed by SJB.
Image: SJB
The proposed building will offer “a variety of apartment types to cater for density while also providing and alternative to traditional detached housing by proposing large apartments at top levels,” SJB’s application read. “This will attract residents that would otherwise unlikely move to the area.”
The proposal aims to minimise impacts to views for surrounding neighbours with a building form that carefully descends into the surrounding view lines.
Most of the apartments will be cross ventilated and receive two hours of solar access, and a majority of the apartments will have a vast outlook towards the city skyline, Opera House, Harbour Bridge, or over the headlands.
SJB said the proposal demonstrates “the potential to significantly enhance the aesthetics of the existing building and its contribution to the urban character of Potts Point.”
