Australian architectural studio Austin Maynard Architects has designed ParkLife, a sunny apartment building in Brunswick, an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Australia. Seeking to transform the approach to high-density urban living, the strikingly poetic building’s design prioritizes social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
Austin Maynard Architects acted as both architect and developer for the project. ParkLife is part of the Nightingale Village in Brunswick — The Village is a collection of six neighboring buildings (designed by local architects) that embrace social, environmental, and economic factors. ParkLife comprises thirty-seven one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes as well as two commercial units. The building stands apart with its sharp mountain-shaped roof line and bright yellow accents. The design includes a quirky rooftop amphitheater and a range of thoughtful communal spaces.
Architectural opportunities
ParkLife and the adjacent Evergreen building by Claire Cousins Architects were designed concurrently — collaboration between the two buildings allowed for a number of design features such as the inclusion of light wells: “By adjoining our light wells we were able to double the space, which allowed for double the garden at ground level and double the amount of natural light streaming in through the core,” says Austin Maynard Architects.
At the project’s outset, there was already proposed planning for a similarly-sized apartment building at the rear of ParkLife. However, prior to the commencement of construction, the council acquired the rear site and gave approval for a public park. Austin Maynard Architects took the opportunity to create private garden areas for the homes at ground level, merging these with the park. The studio also shared the opportunity with the wider village, explaining: “By separating our ParkLife community entry and secure bike parking, we made a pathway through the centre of our building that connects The Village ‘hub’ at Duckett Street with the new park, providing direct access.”
In the design of ParkLife, the council required Austin Maynard Architects to drop the building down on its south-east corner where it neighbors a pre-existing apartment block. Treating this as a further design opportunity, the studio created a two-story apartment with an expansive private terrace and the building’s unique rooftop amphitheater.
Evolution
Austin Maynard Architects describes ParkLife as the “perfect evolution and natural progression” to the studio’s Terrace House project. Learning lessons from this project, the studio was able to differentiate between aspirational versus effective design initiatives. One notable lesson was the reuse of Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV), providing each home with fresh air through heat exchangers and minimizing temperature loss. Thermal bridging was greatly reduced by enveloping the majority of concrete in insulated panels. Austin Maynard Architects also excluded elements from the Terrace House that did not meet the studio’s high standards, including the use of balustrades and membrane balconies.
Materiality
ParkLife’s colorful character is very much the result of its distinct materiality. The building’s exterior is a well insulated white steel cladding (using an ASKIN colorbond panel) with cables, grills, and rods that encourage vegetation to grow. Austin Maynard Architects chose to avoid the use of external precast concrete panel cladding, thereby reducing carbon and increasing insulation performance. The cladding’s white finish is highly reflective, minimizing heat gain in the summer months and helping to mitigate the urban heat island effect. The marked vertical lines soften the building’s exterior face.
In the design for ParkLife, Austin Maynard Architects recalls and includes visual aspects of previous projects: the mountain-shaped roof line from the studio’s RaeRae House, the white steel balustrade from its Greenacres house, and the color yellow, seen in My-House, Alfred House, and Mills House. The use of yellow in ParkLife is especially pronounced on the park-facing balconies. This effervescent color extends throughout the building: it is found in the common areas, bike store, large planter boxes, glazed staircase, and more. A truly sunny color, the yellow, contrasted with white, brings ParkLife to life.
The apartment interiors are clean, bright, and functional, allowing residents to put their own stamp on their respective homes. Materials include timber floors, white walls, white cabinetry, concrete ceilings, and terrazzo tiling in the bathrooms.
Ecological and sustainable design
Austin Maynard Architects paid particular attention to the project's energy efficiency with an emphasis on the amount of glazing and its orientation. “To create the most thermally efficient homes possible, we looked at the size and spacing of the glass,” says the studio. “The heads of the sliding doors out to the balcony were lowered to 2.1 meters (6.9 feet). A shelf was installed on the interior to take advantage of this section of wall, something residents have fully embraced.” Such functional additions — rather than merely decorative — are simple, efficient, cost-effective, and fun.
One notable and indeed laudable element of the project is the preservation of a large and established gum tree called “Alan” (named after a local man who planted it). Alan borders the ParkLife plot and its conservation was important to Austin Maynard Architects. Pushing back metaphorically against the conventional wisdom that every inch of space must be used in order to maximize profit, the studio instead physically pushed the building back by two meters (6.6 feet), thereby protecting Alan’s roots and allowing for further growth. Apartment owners have welcomed Alan’s canopy as part of their homes.
ParkLife’s rooftop embraces a series of spaces that vary in size and character. Austin Maynard Architects worked in collaboration with landscape architectural studio Openwork to design a productive garden with fruit trees and a grass lawn for picnics; a covered deck provides space for barbecues. Additional facilities include a laundry room (with yellow walls and ceiling) and a drying area. And indubitably, the rooftop headliner is that amphitheater.
Each apartment has an ERV system, ceiling fans, high levels of insulation, and high performance glazing.
ParkLife has no mechanical heating or cooling — passive measures are used as well as the ERV systems.
The building is 100 percent fossil fuel-free.
Storm water is managed via the combination of soft landscaping and a rainwater tank.
There is no private car parking — the shared basement includes a “Public Car Share Pod” and 95 bicycle parking spaces for 37 homes.
ParkLife has achieved an impressive 9.1 energy rating under the Australian Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS).
Site area: 706 square meters (7,599 square feet)
Total floor area: 4,210 square meters (45,316 square feet)
37 apartments (including 5 affordable housing): 14 one-bedroom, 19 two-bedroom, and 2 three-bedroom, and 2 Teilhaus apartments.
