Gateway meets gateway meets gateway in Port Melbourne

Gateway meets gateway meets gateway in Port Melbourne
Mark BaljakJuly 17, 2014

Urban.com.au aren't averse to providing a shout out to firms who design intriguing residential buildings, albeit conceptual ones. Recently a design by South Melbourne firm Burton & Carter crossed our desks and we were mighty impressed.

The architect's summary of the gateway project designed for Port Melbourne is as follows:

The Eminence is a proposed 35 storey residential tower in the bay side area of Port Melbourne.

The parametric design of the podium incorporated retail, restaurant and cafe spaces to generate a lively community space for residents and public that would make use of the interesting design that allowed for natural light and bay side views through the triangulated windows, yet stopped unwanted cold strong south-west winds. The opening up of the facade allows for a triple storey interior main lobby that marks the entrance at ground level.

The residential tower connects with the podium with a sleek extrusion to the north-west facade, allowing maximum balcony space to the south to maximise views of the bay side for the residents, but also allowing city views to the north-east. The smooth finish to the tower’s form creates a crown on top of the building that follows the curvilinear form of the podium to generate an aesthetic connection between the two.

Burton and Carter: The Eminence Apartments
Gateway meets gateway meets gateway in Port Melbourne
Image © Burton & Carter

Visually, design parallels can be drawn between Burton & Carter's scheme and Snøhetta's Ras Al Khaimah gateway project in the emerging UAE emirate, albeit on a smaller scale.

Gateway meets gateway meets gateway in Port Melbourne
Image courtesy Arch2o

Both designs are mixed-use in nature and carry substantial areas of associated communal space and landscaping. Externally the buildings are quite similar in styling, while also providing a variety of sheltered and shaded spaces for public use. The undulating form of either design peaks with a landmark 'gateway' tower signifying the structures isolated dominance.

Both gateway projects are also situated at the entrance to their respective city, the difference being Ras Al Khaimah's fronts the desert whereas Port Melbourne's would be a marker for arriving ships.

Gateway meets gateway meets gateway in Port Melbourne
Image © Laurence Dragomir

Resident render guru Laurence provided us with this Port Melbourne concept design last year (as seen above), further investigating the notion of a gateway structure marking ones aquatic arrival into Melbourne. I'd take any which one in Melbourne yet Button and Carter's is a crisp, contemporary design that unfortunately will never seemingly see the light of day.

Mark Baljak

Mark Baljak was a co-founder of Urban.com.au. He passed away on Thursday 8th of November 2018 after a battle with cancer. He was 37. Mark was a keen traveller, having visited all six permanently-inhabited continents and had a love of craft beer. One of his biggest passions was observing the change that has occurred in Melbourne over the past two decades. In that time he built an enormous library of photos, all taken by him, which tracked the progress of construction on building sites from across metropolitan Melbourne.

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