Six apartment buildings designed by four architecture practices will be built in a former industrial lot in Waterloo, Sydney under a development proposal submitted to the City of Sydney.
The development at 903-921 Bourke Street was subject to two separate design competitions in 2019, with Bates Smart and Richard and Spence selected for one part of the site (Sub-Precinct D1) and MHNDU and Fieldwork selected for the other (Sub-Precinct D2).
The six buildings will be grouped around a central plaza and two heritage buildings, the Valve House and the Pump House. Arcadia is the landscape architect for the wider development.
Sub-Precinct D2 by MHNDU and Fieldwork.
Image: MHNDU and Fieldwork
Bates Smart has designed the complex’s tallest building, a 20-storey tower containing 147 apartments, along with the adjacent “plaza building,” a six-storey building with 26 apartments and ground-floor retail, while Richard and Spence has designed two six-storey buildings, Young Street North, with 21 apartments, and Young Street South, with 32 apartments and retail tenancies.
MHNDU and Fieldwork have designed their two buildings collaboratively. The 12-storey Bourke Street North will house 122 apartments and the six-storey Bourke Street South will house 28, and both will have ground-floor retail.
In planning documents, Richard and Spence and Bates Smart note that each of the new buildings has a role in shaping and defining new public places.
“The stepped tower with family friendly terraces addresses the park,” a design statement reads. “The quirky 6-storey plaza building defines the heritage square, with clear reference to the industrial brick buildings of the past. Two boutique apartment buildings face Young Street, integrated with soft landscaping, stairs, entries, and places to gather. A highly textured and layered landscape binds the buildings and spaces together.”
Young Street South by Richards and Spence.
Image: Richards and Spence
MHNDU and Fieldwork’s two buildings are defined by their use of red brick, referencing the Interwar Free Classical architecture of the Pump House.
“At ground, this material expression increases in detail with expressed brick courses, textured glass and a terracotta coloured dado,” the firms state. “The sweeping curves of the generous retail offering continue up the brick podium to the tower – a pigmented concrete form, lighter than the base and smoothed as if by running water.”
Of the 376 units across the development, at least 5 percent will be designated as affordable and 15 percent will be adaptable allowing for residents to age in place.
The $218 million development application is on exhibit until 28 February.
