Belgravia is a boutique apartment building consisting of twelve oversized, three-bedroom apartments with shared basement parking. The overarching aim of this project was to create distinctive apartments that stood out for their quality in an area replete with high-end properties of their scale. This was achieved through design solutions which interpreted site constraints as inspiration for architectural flair.
Located on a narrow site and centred between two large, side-oriented, multi-unit apartment blocks, MHNDU was challenged from the outset of the project to design a context responsive building that strategically protected the amenity of all future residents and drew upon the manipulation of shape and form to direct views away from the neighbouring buildings on both sides. We were further challenged by the fact that the narrowness of the site was unforgiving in terms of providing spatial separation from the surrounding apartment buildings; the project thus ran the risk of being overburdened and highly constrained by its positioning.
MHNDU drew upon creative solutions by playing with form, sculpting the building and aligning its direction away from the adjacent apartment blocks towards the street and gardens located at the rear. The resulting building acts as a true solitaire; equally articulated and engaging from all angles. The primary architectural element is found in the white brick blades which cut into the form at various angles. The blades cantilever from the second floor at various points, while grounding themselves in others.
The palette for this development is purposefully constrained to four key materials: brick, concrete, matte black, aluminium and spotted gum timber. The brick blades which define Belgravia’s form have been built with a combination of regular white and glazed white brick; the random scattering of which mirrors the light at various times of the day and night.
What was a true challenge and limiting constraint for our architectural team became an incentive to delve upon innovative and deviceful design approaches, culminating in a bespoke craftsmanship which offers privacy for residents and an aesthetic avocation from the streetscape viewpoint.
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