Nightingale Village - Episode III - Nightingale CCA
The third entry in Urban.com.au's Nightingale Village series is the Clare Cousins Architects-designed number at 12 Duckett Street.
Located adjacent to the Upfield cycling corridor between Nightingale WOW and Kennedy Nolan's Nightingale, the development will deliver a mix of 25 apartments across seven floors. Each apartment will be provided with generous private storage capacity, both internally and externally.
Nightingale CCA embraces the community-focused ethos of the Nightingale model via the provision of shared laundry facilities, open air drying area and communal productive garden.
A 4.5m setback from the northern boundary has allowed for the creation of 'The Mews' and a shared garden, while also improving solar access to buildings and connections to the bike path along the rail corridor.
In terms of its environmental credentials, Nightingale CCA is targeting a minimum 7.5 Star NatHERS rating achieved through the inclusion of solar and rain water collection, 56 secure bike parks, and resident access to Nightingale Village's Car Share facility. A commercial tenancy is located at the ground floor while up top a 206 sqm landscaped garden roof terrace will crown the building.
Located at the north western end of Duckett Street, abutting a tough interface with the Upfield bike path and train line, Nightingale CCA (NG CCA) will form part of the new Nightingale Village. Conceived as a collection of residential buildings, each authored by different Melbourne architects, Nightingale Village is an opportunity to change the way housing is built on a wider scale.
Nightingale CCA incorporates the social, environmental and financial sustainability principles of the Nightingale model. These projects look to facilitate connected communities both within the building and the wider community.
Whilst most multi-residential developments would aim to maximise site coverage and therefore yield, NG CCA has reduced its site coverage in order to contribute space to the boarder community. NG CCA is set back from the northern boundary to establish a publicly accessible mews and from the west to enable the public bike path to be widened onto our site.
This equates to 21% of our site area offered for public use.
- Clare Cousins Architects' Design Statement
12 Duckett Street has been conceived as two forms separated by a light court located in the centre of the development, increasing amenity to apartments in the form of natural ventilation and light.
Within this void an open stair wrapped encompassed in fine mesh has been introduced providing not only vertical circulation and connection between the two blocks but also opportunity to grow climbers along its full extents.
Similar to Nightingale WOW, Clare Cousins Architects have set back the ground floor along the western boundary to allow a widened bike path and green buffer. A 1.8m deep entry colonnade increases the visual depth of the western setback and activates the interface through passive surveillance to the bike path.
Additional light wells have been introduced along the western facades to further reduce the visual mass, while also providing light to bathrooms and bedrooms. This gesture also future proofs the project from any potential development on the adjacent VicTrack owned rail and bike corridors.
The streetwall is expressed via two horizontal datums across the building which are staggered to reflect their respective solar orientations - four-storeys to the north and three-storeys to the south for solar access to the street.
These are established through setbacks to the upper levels, with the adoption of of concrete and masonry providing a robust and tactile response to the industrial character of area.
The lightweight upper forms comprises a layered steel composition framing open balustrades within an open steel structure that ties the façade roof elements together. This creates a dissolving, transparent form which also allows for vegetation to grow up the facade over time, providing a screening element.
As an overall strategy, materials have been selected for their domestic and tactile qualities, drawing on the neighbourhood character and industrial past of the site.
Next up in the FORM Landscape Architects series will be Kennedy Nolan's Nightingale building at 9 Duckett Street.
