QV8

By Breathe

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Housing people, not cars.

A car park sitting at the base of a 37-storey tower had an incredible outlook and guaranteed solar access in the centre of the CBD. The heritage-listed State Library of Victoria sits opposite the site. Not only does it provide a beautiful aspect — it could never be built out. Solar access is guaranteed in perpetuity. It was just too good to pass up.

Gripped between a commercial plinth with a multi-storey car park and a residential tower above, QV8 is the adaptation of a disused car parking level into eight bespoke apartments. The project is an opportune appropriation of an environmentally counter-intuitive typology: the inner-city car park, and provides a new precedent for urban infill housing. By establishing luxuriously deep north-facing balconies and circulation edged with vegetation, QV8 will flourish over time to create a ‘green band’, providing lush material relief amongst the hard-edged streetscape.

We are proud to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land upon which QV8 stands. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.

Awards Houses Awards 2015 Sustainability Award

Photography by Peter Clarke

We are proud to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land upon which QV8 stands. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.

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QV8

Breathe
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About the
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Australia’s most awarded sustainable design firm, and its most dependable.

Our Approach

Breathe undertakes meaningful projects we can be proud of — those that align with our purpose and values.

Since we focus on maximising positive impact, many of our projects don’t fit the common definition of ‘architecture’.

We work to understand who we’re designing for. We strive to inspire, engage and support our clients and the broader communities we serve.

We prioritise social, environmental and economic sustainability in every project. We question the status quo to pursue outcomes that are informed by, and seek to better, those that came before.

Above all, we prioritise ethics along with aesthetics, and design without ego, to create the best outcomes for our clients and their communities.

At ArchiPro we recognise and acknowledge the existing, original and ancient connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have to the lands and waterways across the Australian continent. We pay our respects to the elders past and present. We commit to working together to build a prosperous and inclusive Australia.