A palette of face brick, bold painted steel and metal filigree elements characterise the façade of this clever combination of large footprint apartments and contemporary terraces addressing a pedestrian footway.

Year

2014

Location

Alexandria NSW

Team

Dom Bennett, Karina Rafailov

Photographer

Simon Wood

Unlike some housing developments that offer fairly predictable floor plans and essentially one typology, Bennett Murada Architects often combines different floor plans to cater for a broader market - from professional couples to young families or empty nesters looking to scale down from their large family homes.

So, The Buckland (named after one of the streets on which it is located) features four large apartments and 10 terrace-style apartments, the latter accessed by a pedestrian walkway that creates the sense of an English-style mews arrangement. Each of these terraces comes with its own frontage, courtyard garden and tall steel picket fences, a contemporary nod to the Victorian terrace. But unlike period homes, these three-level homes include generous glazing, with each house clearly delineated by painted orange steel portals, creating definition to each one, protection from the sun and privacy from neighbours.

While the terraces benefit from verdant outlooks over the pedestrian link to established trees, the rear elevation, abutting warehouses, provided the opportunity to create a light well as well as operable windows for cross ventilation. As with the layout found in many Victorian terraces, the ground floors comprise the open plan kitchen, living and dining areas with a staircase at the rear to maximise, rather than segment, spaces. And on the first floor are two bedrooms with a shared bathroom, leaving the main bedroom,ensuite and study area for the top levels (each of the bedroom levels also benefit from having balconies).

Fronting the main road are seven single-storey apartments spread over four levels and constructed in concrete, steel and glass and varying in size between 150 and 180 square metres in area. Again, the vibrant orange steel portals framing windows not only diffuse light and define apartments, but also animate the façade, giving the development a ‘voice’ along this busy thoroughfare. And with similar proportions to those found in a home, varying in area from 150 to 180 square metres, each apartment comes with three bedrooms and a separate study.

Mindful of the market that was to be addressed, The Buckland was conceived to provide top-end finishes for a more discerning owner-occupier client – therefore, these townhouses and apartments include polished concrete and timber floors, stone benches, along with high-end appliances, fixtures and fittings.