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Common elements such as the atrium entry and the
circulation combined with the patterned repetition of
individual units collectively represent the idea of the
building. At street level a small café and personal training
business completes the impression by servicing directly
the neighbourhood at large.
There’s often a theatrical quality wherever you
have a large ratio of glass and there’s a certain level
of activity and people circulation/gathering occurring.
Using glass can be a direct invitation for people to look
into the building. For residential buildings, which are
essentially private the number of spaces that bear that
sort of scrutiny are limited. The prime example is, quite
naturally, the entrance foyer. In this case the foyer and
the ascending staircase, essentially the atrium structure
are a single element that also includes views of the lift
doors and the framed smoke doors leading to the inner
sanctum of private apartments. The view into the
stairwell/atrium is rewarded by the application of
textured and coloured wall finishes and timber veneers
that compliment the steel and timber treads of the
staircase. In this way an outside observer is deliberately
drawn into the building and its workings. This is a gesture
of welcome by way of revealing as far as is practically
acceptable to the tenants of the building. By identifying
parts of the building within the spectrum of public to
private spaces and making deliberate and considered
choices about what and how to draw attention to you
reveal more of the purpose of the building and make
stronger albeit qualified connections to the social context
in which it exists. I believe that this cannot be overstated
in its importance in an age when a concern for privacy
has become an unnatural and usually unnecessary
obsession within our community. The use of glass
to make such connections also allows the building
to communicate via a wider palate of materials,
textures, shapes and colours.
The staircase not as place of last resort
but preferred means of circulation. Rather
than rejection of the street, the apartment
appears and feels responsive to the flow
of light and life.