Neutral Bay Apartments
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- Sydney, Australia
- Team
- Ian Moore, Danny Mathis
Two irregular shaped, steeply sloping sites have been amalgamated for this 13 unit residential development, however the local Council were insistent that there must be two separate buildings on the site to reflect the original development patterns in the area. The southern building has five levels, containing nine three bedroom units, with iconic views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and CBD, while the northern building has four levels, containing four three bedroom units, with westerly views over North Sydney.
The site sits atop a large sandstone outcrop, with the boundary set back approximately four metres from the street frontage. The boundary is marked by an existing sandstone retaining wall on the southern portion, which is to be extended to the north to incorporate the car park entry and main building entry, via a curved basement lobby, leading to the lifts at the rear of the site.
The building form is staggered in plan to break down the apparent scale and maximise views from all units. The site is excavated to form a level platform above the basement parking, with a three level sandstone rock face to the eastern boundary, shielding the building from neighbours on the uphill slope, while maintaining their views over the site. Interstitial spaces between buildings form landscaped courtyards for the lower level units, while landscaping to the eastern, uphill, boundary contains a secondary entry from the side laneway.
Light Bronze aluminium cladding and sun-control louvres pick up the colour tones of the rock outcrop and stone retaining wall, providing the building with a crisp silhouette against the heavily landscaped setting. This colour palette is continued on the interior with all units having European Oak flooring and, Travertine paving to terraces, bathrooms and lobbies. Bathroom walls and the curved wall of the main entry are clad in handmade Japanese finger tiles, having an irregular speckled glaze providing further texture to the interiors, contrasting with the smooth uniform finish of the exterior.