Covet’s Ever Art Wood and large marble tiles made up a carefully selected materials palette that aimed to deliver an expensive-looking luxurious and durable finish to the lobby area of a stunning, 58-storey apartment tower in Melbourne.

Located on Lonsdale Street in Melbourne’s prestigious Legal Precinct, the landmark apartment building, aptly named The Melbourne Grand, is designed to impress with state-of-the-art facilities including a heated pool, full gymnasium and 24/7 concierge service.

To help achieve its full potential, The Melbourne Grand’s owners, Central Equity, enlisted the design expertise of Arkee Creative. For James Ward, senior interior architect at Arkee Creative, the aim was to ensure that ‘The Grand’ lived up to its name.

“We came up with a palette for the whole building, but our main focus was the lobby and public spaces higher up the stack, where we could really make a big impression,” Ward explained.

“The vision was to combine minimal and natural with sophistication and luxury. In the lobby – which really sets the tone for the whole building – we wanted expensive materials and finishes, but used in a minimal way that’s elegant and clean, rather than busy and ostentatious.”

The Challenge

In order to achieve the natural yet luxurious finish, Ward and his team selected large white marble tiles for the lobby walls but wanted to make a bold contrast for the 30-metre, curved wall leading to the lifts, stairs and concierge offices.

“It’s a huge area and so we needed to make it a main feature,” Ward said. “We knew we wanted it to be a dark colour to make an impact, but then soften it by using a timber finish and texture, curves and battens.”

While there were several products available, which could meet some of the requirements, finding a product that could achieve everything soon became one of the toughest challenges of the project.

“The Grand is a huge building and the lobby will be the access point for hundreds of residents,” Ward noted. “The cladded area will potentially have people touching or brushing past it on a daily basis, so it needed to be very durable but also meet a strict, group two fire rating – something very few real timber products can match.”

The Solution

When Ward and his team came across Covet’s Ever Art Wood series of aluminium products, there was a genuine sense of relief. “It really became a saviour for us, as it enabled us to deliver the original design intent while meeting all the practical requirements,” Ward said.

Working closely with Covet, the Arkee Creative team selected the Ever Art Wood 1mm Mokuzai panels with 40x40 concealed fix Kabebari battens in a beautiful charcoal black colour called Chakooru Gurei. Ever Art Wood two-section Kabebari battens were affixed to the curved Mokuzai cladding panels lining the interior walls, with all fixtures concealed to avoid any interruption to the flow of the repeating battens. The result is a sleek yet soft, timber textured, curved feature wall that sets an impressive expectation for the rest of the building.

“The initial feedback from both the client and residents has been very positive – and we’re thrilled with the outcome,” Ward enthused. “It became the product that literally ticked all the boxes – it was even easy to install but, most importantly, it looks fantastic.”

Project Details

Location: 560 Lonsdale St; Melbourne, VIC

Cladding profile: Ever Art Wood 1mm Mokuzai panels with 40x40 concealed fix Kabebari battens

Ever Art Wood colour:  Chakooru Gurei

Fire rating: Performs well when tested to AS/NZ 1530.3 (spread of flame / index 0) and AS/NZ 3837-1998 (result / Group 1)

Interior designer: Arkee Creative

Installer: Melbourne Ceilings

Developer: Central Equity

Photography: Pierre Curry