Situated on the corner of Spring Street and Flinders Lane, the tower’s signature design was inspired by its location. Flinders Lane is currently an artistic and cultural destination within the city, however in the 1880s, the lane was the home to Melbourne’s burgeoning fabric and fashion industry. Spring Street is characterised by Melbourne’s most important historic and government buildings, including the State Parliament of Victoria and the Treasury Building. Drawing inspiration from both precincts, the façade interprets the warp and weft weaving of fabric in reference to the history of Flinders Lane, as well as the ashlar patterns found in the stonework of the nearby historic buildings.

The distinctive white framework of the façade creates a unique veil over the surface of the building. This device helps to create protected balconies and terraces, softening the threshold between inside and outside and establishing an increased sense of privacy for residents.

The 44 storey residential tower incorporates 241 luxury apartments. Internally, the generously sized and often customised apartments feature timeless contemporary design, with rich layered and textural finishes and a high level of crafted and bespoke detailing. Amenities include a 25 metre indoor lap pool, fully-equipped gymnasium, private wine cellar, lounge and dining facilities and a barbecue.

The success of Cbus Property's 35 Spring Street reveals that there is a market for high quality luxury living in Melbourne’s CBD. The project exceeded all expectations, selling 100% off the plan.

Named “Connecting the City: People, Density and Infrastructure,” the event gathered leading architects, engineers and developers in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane from October 30 to November 3 to discuss pressing issues and the latest innovations connecting density to infrastructure and urban development.

Bates Smart acted as a Gold Sponsor of the event, with Director Philip Vivian serving as Co-Chair. The Co-Chair’s joint message addressed why Australia was the ideal location for this year’s conference:

“Since the 2008 global financial crisis, Australia has enjoyed unrivalled economic growth on the back of a mining- and infrastructure-led boom. This growth has led to Australian cities investing in infrastructure projects, especially transport, to support the next generation of urban development. In Sydney, the Sydney Metro rail is the second largest transport infrastructure project in the world after London’s Cross Rail. Melbourne Metro, likewise, creates a vast extension of the city’s public transport network – and in Brisbane, a new connection, Cross Rail, is being planned. These projects will greatly enhance the connectivity of Australian cities, transitioning them from suburban car-oriented cities to denser polycentric urban conglomerations, and in the process leading to a wider debate about city form, density, and height.”

Over the course of the week, Vivian was joined by Bates Smart Directors Guy Lake and Kristen Whittle, as well as Associate Directors Karen Wong and Tim Leslie, as they delivered talks on the firm’s current projects and the history of Sydney and Melbourne architecture.

Visit ctbuh2017.com for the full Co-Chair message and further details.

The design teams behind these projects—named Australia Towers (a pair of elliptical towers), Opal Tower, and Boomerang Tower—were essentially tasked with creating a community from the ground up. When all three projects are completed, the towers will enhance Olympic Park’s liveability via their high quality design, connections to the parklands and amenities that nurture organic neighborhood growth.

Great care was taken with the connections between the towers and the ground plane to ensure that Olympic Boulevard and Australia Avenue, Olympic Park’s two main streets, will be activated. The shared lobby in Australia Towers’ podium has become the development’s central social space, where families and residents often gather, and its connection to a nearby retail arcade with cafes, shops, a pharmacy and gym facilities has helped bolster activity along Australia Avenue. Similar transformations and street level permeability are expected at Opal Tower and Boomerang Tower.

At Opal Tower, a childcare center located on the corner of the site will allow families living in Olympic Park’s residential towers to easily plug into nearby care facilities, simplifying commutes and helping to build the local neighborhood by fostering relationships between families. The adjacency to Bicentennial Park will also enable the center to take full advantage of the parklands year round, giving kids a great place where they can play.

Boomerang Tower extends Olympic Park’s commercial development to the town centre’s edge via its commercial podium. This 8 storey volume stacks retail space at the ground level, parking and commercial office space, complete with a rooftop terrace. Mixing uses in this manner will help draw more people to this corner of Olympic Park.

Australia Towers, Opal Tower and Boomerang Tower demonstrate that, when designed well, tall buildings can help complement and transition the monumental scale of Olympic Park. Together, these projects provide the needed space for compact commercial and residential development, and contribute to the architectural diversity that will catalyse Olympic Park’s growth into a vibrant community.

The 39 storey tower, designed for developer Golden Age Group, uses exquisite detailing and strong and enduring materiality to create a unique building. The articulation of sculptural contemporary geometry provides a clear architectural expression, as beautifully crafted and stacked concrete frames distinguish the façade. The concrete is shaped in such a way that it is comparable to a handcrafted piece of furniture or joinery.

The geometry of the façade wraps around the apartment balconies, and extends inside, creating a unified language between the exterior and interior. This device also helps to optimise and frame the impressive views from the inside outwards.

The forecourt at the base of the building connects the underground entry to Parliament Station with the creation of a new laneway, reinvigorating the public realm. The tower’s unique podium, consisting of triangular sculptural forms, is further emphasised by the building’s 15 metre cantilever over the forecourt.

The appreciation of craftsmanship is particularly apparent in the design of the interiors. A neutral palette emphasises the material selection of stone, timber and metal used throughout the 138 apartments. Distinctive features include a cantilevered stone island bench, which echoes the architectural expression of the building, and is accompanied by custom designed tapware and lighting.

The development is inspired by Melbourne’s artistic identity and incorporates a number of artistic collaborations, including most notably a commission for a unique artwork by internationally recognised photographer Bill Henson. The work will capture the essence of the local landscape and the changing seasons.

Exclusive amenities for residents include concierge services, private dining room, wine cellar, lounge, gym, steam room and pool. The intricate craftmanship of the project can currently be seen at the display suite located at 85 Spring Street, Melbourne.

What was the initial inspiration for the interior design at 35 Spring Street

Jeff Copolov: The starting point is always the site. From an interiors perspective you are always looking at optimising that opportunity, and in this location within the city grid, I believe Spring Street is the ultimate residential address in Melbourne.

Grant Filipoff: The corner of Spring Street and Flinders Lane is probably one of the best corners in the city. There are so many amenities in close proximity to the building. Flinders Lane is home to numerous bars and restaurants and then there’s also the nearby cinemas.

Jeff Copolov: With this project we spent a lot of time studying and maximising view corridors. This is particularly important when designing high-rise living in a dense environment. We were conscious of visually connecting with the icons of Melbourne from the MCG through to the Fitzroy Gardens. Outlook is also the defining element when planning apartments; what you place where, and how you maximise the views for each and every residence.

Carolyn White: The view is also one of the first things that buyers are wanting to understand.

How did the building’s unique façade influence the design?

Jeff Copolov: The design is very much about the interior and architecture crafting each other. For instance on the ground floor lobby we deliberately used the grid pattern of the façade and extended it into the interior spaces, therefore letting the building’s exterior become the building’s interior. We also reproduced the grid again on a micro scale with the introduction of screens as an ornamental device.

How important are the amenities in a development such as 35 Spring Street?

Kendra Pinkus: The lounge has proven to be so successful. We recently visited the building and spoke with the concierge. He said that it is so active and that residents often just pop downstairs and sit in the lounge to read a book. The residents’ private dining room and barbecue are also always booked out. They are both really popular and successful.

Jeff Copolov: I actually thought the lobby lounge would be a more ornamental place where people would spend limited time waiting for guests or for an Uber, but it’s become so much more. Lobbies are generally busy places, so to create a place where people wanted to sit, we deliberately divided the space into two separate areas. There’s a harder, active part of the lobby with the concierge and a circulation route through to the lift lobbies, and then we treated the lounge as a softer place, with a fireplace and more sumptuous personalised furnishings.

Kendra Pinkus: People really use it and there are people in there the entire time. It provides a space for residents in the building to meet. They are coming and going, walking their dogs. It creates a community and a place where people can meet their neighbours.

Jeff Copolov: We fought hard to convince everyone that this amenity should located on the ground floor, on the corner of Flinders Lane and Spring Street. Originally there was some discussion that the space should be given to more active hospitality and retail facilities. However, we wanted to prioritise the experience for the residents.

Kendra Pinkus: It’s a sophisticated space and it’s about creating an ambience, a place where people want to be. It feels like a hotel.

Which elements distinguished the design of the apartment interiors at 35 Spring Street?

Carolyn White: The client (Cbus Property) wanted to produce a high quality product and there was a great deal of integrity when making decisions. That meant that the bedroom sizes, living room and the scale of the kitchen bench was more generous than some of the other apartment developments being built at the same time.

Grant Filipoff: It was the only residential tower at that time of that quality. It was a benchmark.

Carolyn White: Understanding the market was important to the success of the sales campaign. The development sold 100% off the plan, and all of the 3-bedroom apartments sold quickly.

Jeff Copolov: It was marketed to owner-occupiers, and it was about knowing what the purchasers wanted.

Kendra Pinkus: For many residents, it’s a complete lifestyle change.

555 Collins Street is a sculptural residential tower that will transform a busy, but neglected corner of Melbourne’s CBD. The tower’s elegant form will become a vibrant addition to Melbourne’s skyline, yet it is the building’s tapered base that really differentiates the project. This device allows for an increase in the amount of public amenity provided at street level and importantly creates a continuous pedestrian realm that links with the adjacent building, and establishes a contemporary addition to Melbourne’s collection of celebrated laneways.

The provision of public spaces within the public realm allows for places of respite, in what is otherwise a busy urban intersection. The tapered form also lets daylight filter into the building’s interior spaces, while at night the illumination created via light spill will result in a safer precinct.