First look: Neometro advance plans for huge St Kilda East site
Melbourne’s design-focused development group Neometro is advancing designs for its new site opposite Alma Park in St Kilda East.
Neometro are seeking to pay tribute to St Kilda's architectural heritage and cosmopolitan spirit, commissioning Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA) and award-winning landscape consultants Myles Baldwin Design to create 41 apartments and 21 two and three-level townhouses at 97 Alma Road, a near 5,000 sqm site they bought last year for almost $22 million.
KTA has responded to the brief by celebrating connection with the landscape at all scales, from site planning to shared spaces and interiors.
The block is divided by landscape pockets, providing garden areas, natural light and ventilation to all apartments. An enhanced sense of community is promoted through quality outdoor shared spaces including the east garden spine, linear gardens with native planting, activated laneways between the townhouses and an apartment roof top terrace with communal food production and BBQ area.
The communal courtyard acts as a protected green for the existing trees of significant cultural values and history.
Read more: Neometro secure next apartment development site
The proposed renders for 97 Alma Road: Image credit: Neometro with KTA
Designed with healthy living in mind – 97 Alma Road is the next generation of green building that not only includes environmentally responsible and resource-efficient building concepts, but also integrates human wellbeing, something Neometro have pioneered and evolved for over three decades.
“For more than 30 years we’ve been refining our approach to healthy building, establishing a set of pillars—air, light, comfort, connection, mind and body that consider all three aspects of health and wellbeing equally—mental, social and physical," Neometro Director James Tutton says.
Aligned to Victoria's Climate Change Framework, which has a target of net-zero carbon by 2050, 97 Alma Road will feature a range of energy-efficient features, including solar panels, rainwater harvesting systems, and high-efficiency appliances. All units will have passive solar design with direct access to sunlight for periods of the day, and no south-facing apartments. All apartments have cross-flow ventilation.
The building will also incorporate passive design principles to maximise natural light and ventilation and reduce the need for artificial heating and cooling.
Architect Kerstin Thompson says 97 Alma Road offers a graceful return to treasured memories, forging a connection with a valued part of Melbourne’s urban history while offering a new approach to multiple housing.
"We really considered what it means to arrive home, celebrating the ‘homecoming’ with civic scaled entries to the apartment building and activating differentiated laneways between the townhouses," Thompson says.
KTA’s vision is to provide each apartment with its own distinguishing architectural element: a bay window, an arch, a sunroom, a delightfully odd-shaped window, or a juliette balcony. A feature that forges an attachment to one’s own home because it’s like no other.
An artist will be engaged to create a public art piece, inline with the City of Port Phillip's Public Art Guidelines 2017.
Residents will have access to a 141 sqm rooftop deck which will feature a food production area, and the ground level will have a food and beverage tenancy, suited for a cafe with outdoor seating.