Sydney Road, Brunswick
High density in a traditional retail high street
Category Large Residential Development | Project Sydney Road, Brunswick | Architect ARM (Ashton Raggatt McDougall)
Context
A large development of apartments and town houses was introduced behind a narrow street frontage to the shopping strip of Sydney Road.
Challenges
A previous design concept to introduce a ten-storey tower ‘landmark’ was rejected but the approved concept delivers a similar quantum of development in a form that is more responsive to the site.
Responses
The Sydney Road street frontage responds to the simple rectangular forms of neighbouring buildings. A through-block link at ground level gives access to the complex and the street behind Sydney Road. Height and density have been gained whilst limiting visual bulk by creating a high narrow curved tower form sited away from the main road. This tower form steps down to wider masses not visible from the main road. In particular, townhouses interface with the residential street to the rear of the site and Site landscaping provides an attractive, shared open space.
Lessons
The addition of high density development behind traditional suburban high streets can offer density across a site without using a tower/podium response. In this example, the variety of building heights and massing addresses the different scales of the site’s surrounds whilst offering a wider range of housing types than is usually available in a single development.
More information
Fact Sheet - Sydney Road, Brunswick (PDF - 107 KB)
Fact Sheet - Sydney Road, Brunswick accessible version (DOC - 23 KB)
