Foy and Gibson Building, Oxford Street, Collingwood
Warehouse shells provide creative interiors
Category Adaptive Reuse | Project Foy and Gibson Building, Oxford Street, Collingwood | Architects Edgard Pirrotta, Melbourne
Context
The former Foy & Gibson complex of heritage listed factories and warehouses covers two large street blocks in Collingwood. This portion, the former powerhouse and motor garage, retained large roof lanterns, ornate timber trusses and exposed brick walls. The project aimed to divide these three-storey spaces into individual apartment shells.
Challenge
The design needed to create well-lit and accessible spaces that maintained the volumes and historic elements of the original structure and spaces.
Response
Staircases are inserted along the existing internal bluestone laneways, which also act as internal light courts. At roof level, outdoor decks are created behind the existing parapets to preserve the original lanterns and trusses as the dominant roof features.
Lessons
Light and cross-ventilation remain challenges for the creation of successful warehouse apartments within former industrial buildings. However, the flexibility of the large internal spaces created here continue to allow creative new responses to interior fit-outs by individual owners in the growing warehouse market for urban apartment living.
More information
Fact Sheet - Foy and Gibson Building, Oxford Street, Collingwood (PDF - 1.2 MB)
Fact Sheet - Foy and Gibson Building, Oxford Street, Collingwood accessible version (DOC - 26 KB)
