Located in Collingwood off the vibrant Smith Street, this development plays with negative and positive space reinterpreting traditional inner city working class suburban materials.

Type:  Development

Location:  Collingwood

Client:  Hickory Group

Build: Hickory Group

Photography:  John Gollings

Located on Stanley Street in Collingwood, off vibrant Smith Street, the area had for some time been going through the urban renewal process, mostly consisting of renovations + refurbishments within a traditional warehouse environment.

The client’s brief was simply to create a new apartment complex in the Collingwood precinct that had a marketable difference to other developments already in the area.

Maximising the site, the development was to provide a diversity in unit sizes with different units offering varying facilities with all having access to natural light + secure on-site car parking, the result was a five storey complex accommodating 30 apartments, 1 commercial tenancy + 37 on-site car parks.

Constructed of concrete, aluminium, steel + glass Dig Design had created a building that draws on the past of the Collingwood area yet reinterprets these common materials in a new way, creating a stimulating place to live.

The design focus for the building is its facade, a steel frame forms a surface that articulates +  draws the publics vision away from the private space of the apartments + provides a sculptural quality.

Three feature windows break up the façade, not as a reflection of a single unit but to articulate the building as a whole, creating a strong simple image.  The central window showcases a large format community artwork.

This project contributes to contemporary design by challenging the idea of surface and facade through the use of positive + negative spaces, creating a development that invigorates + interacts with its surrounds, offering a vibrant place to live.