70 Hope Street, South Brisbane

The internal planning of the units worked on the principal of creating the largest amount of living space with the least amount of material.  Externally the result is an expressed concrete shell with glass walls recessed on the north-east and south- west ends of the building.  The varied recessed balconies and the use of sunhoods on the northern elevation further articulate the form of the building with texture and shadow.  This play of mass and void is evident in the existing built context of the precinct.

Vertical slots on the both the south and north elevations of the building continues this idea of mass versus void.  These slots act as lightwells as well as contributing to the intention of ventilation breezeways between adjacent buildings.  They also allow the residents an outlook without compromising privacy.

Internally these lightwells also allow the whole apartment to be a breezeway.  The encouragement of natural breezes and daylighting is a way of re-connecting the occupant with the real ‘natural’ world.  The functions of the plan and the architecture assist each other.  Basically it is about designing the building for the residents rather than a fashionable statement in an urban fabric.