Kay and Neill Streets, Carlton
Squeezing in individual amenity
Category Infill Development | Project Kay and Neill Streets, Carlton | Architects Nicholas Murray, Melbourne
Context
This development provides five new townhouses on an irregular infill site between two heritage street frontages and next to a two-storey hotel. On the second street, a single storey annex of the old hotel is incorporated into the new development.
Challenge
The new townhouses needed to accommodate off-street parking and private open space on a very tight site, while responding to the scale and façade rhythm of the historic hotel.
Response
By minimising new floor heights, three-storey row houses were accommodated within the same overall height as the two-storey hotel, to match cornice lines. Next to the lower hotel annex, this was reduced to two storeys. Vertical pilaster elements were introduced to reflect the repetitive nature of the main hotel windows in a new context and with modern materials. By grouping garages in the interior of the site with a single, roofed-over street access and locating individual garden decks on the roof, the limited site space was used to maximum effect.
Lessons
When designing in an infill context, matching overall scale and façade patterns can be more important than slavishly imitating traditional materials and details.
More information
Fact Sheet - Kay and Neill Street, Carlton (PDF - 1.1 MB)
Fact Sheet - Kay and Neill Street, Carlton, accessible version (DOC - 25 KB)
