By the close of 2017, Melbourne’s Hoddle Grid will be home to a new 124 metre high tower fit with a massive, shimmering, crystalline crown.
‘Conservatory’ has been designed by Cox Architects and is the latest foray into the Melbourne apartment scene by Malaysian Government-backed developer UEM Sunrise, the same that is giving us Melbourne CBD’s tallest residential apartment block, Aurora Melbourne Central.
Conservatory is considerably smaller than Aurora although it similarly sculptural. Located at Mackenzie Street and within eyeshot of the Carlton Gardens as well as the Lyons Architects-designed RMIT Swanston Academic Building and Elenberg Fraser’s 501 Swanston Street, the built form of Conservatory takes cues from its garden neighbour as well as the surrounding architecture.
Image: UEM Sunrise
The residential tower will rise in a curvilinear form for 38-storeys (127.5 metres to the top of the roof plant) and will feature a six-storey glazed podium.
The tower comprises of 473 dwellings, while the ground floor includes the two shops (108sqm and 160sqm) and food and drink premises (60sqm) totalling 328sqm fronting Mackenzie Street and the corner of Bell Place.
Level five of the podium will be home to a residential facilities area fit with a pool, gym and terrace, along with a miniature version of the rooftop crystalline crown.
Image: Urban Melbourne
Materials and finishes include glazing (clear, tinted silver blue and silver grey and with pattern), precast concrete in charcoal, metal cladding, vertical shading fin in metallic aluminium, folded perforated metal within the podium, perforated aluminium balustrade and painted steel balustrades.
But it's the top of the building that gives Conservatory is distinctiveness, and as it turns out, its name. The building will be topped with 10-storey crowning feature that will appear in a fretwork-like pattern of crystalline blades that articulate with the glass facets of the building below.
Image: UEM Sunrise
Along with the majority of the building, Conservatory’s apex will enjoy sweeping views over the Carlton Gardens but it will also be home to the Carlton Skydeck, one of the highest pool and landscaped areas in the CBD.
The Conservatory is scheduled for completion in 2017.
