Decibel Architecture

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You might have seen the proposal to build Melbourne's next tallest tower on the tiny triangle site fronting Victoria and La Trobe Street - well, Laurence sits down with Dylan Brady from deciBel Architecture to get the low-down... and he finds there's a lot more to this tower than just its height.

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urban.com.au

Weekly Podcast: Episode 16 - deciBel Architecture's Dylan Brady talks Magic Tower

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Decibel Architecture has hit the right planning note as its revised set of plans for a sizeable apartment development sails toward approval this evening.

Fronting Smithfield Road and opposite Flemington Racecourse, Kensington's 2-22 Gatehouse Drive has been recommended for approval leading into tonight's Future Melbourne meeting. Kensington Gatehouse Development Pty Ltd is the entity backing the proposal.

Mid way through its planning campaign, the proposal was subject to a complete redesign in the face of Council feedback and public discourse by way of 60 objections. New discussion (revised) plans were submitted and consequently are the plans subject to approval.

Accounting for a number of exiting retail tenancies and an open air car park, 2-22 Gatehouse Drive's renewed design spans a L-shaped 1,800 square metre site opposite the racecourse stables.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public//pictures/article-images/image75_3.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Aerial view toward Gatehouse Drive"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="331" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files//styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image75_3.jpg?itok=a6L-IyH9" title="Aerial view toward Gatehouse Drive" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Aerial view toward Gatehouse Drive</figcaption></figure>The proposal's overall development yield has dropped with the redesign, from 82 apartments to 69. Those 69 apartments are expected to consist of 11 single, 40 double and 18 triple bedroom options.

Key to the redesign was the relocation of above ground veiled parking to three basement levels. Consequently, an almost uniform external expression which was noted as being "alien in this context" by Council planners was replaced with a varied facade in both composition and colour.

The recommended approval is subject to further design refinements which would appease all concerns held by Council planners.

2-22 Gatehouse Drive is one of only a limited number of apartment developments currently active in Kensington. It along with five additional projects stand to add a relatively meagre 330 higher density dwellings to the suburb.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public//pictures/article-images/image78_3.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="2-22 Gatehouse Drive as originally submitted"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="369" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files//styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image78_3.jpg?itok=SPJ2tpMm" title="2-22 Gatehouse Drive as originally submitted" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>2-22 Gatehouse Drive as originally submitted</figcaption></figure>The pending success of Gatehouse Drive is in addition to another Decibel Architecture-designed residential project which is at sales. CV Windsor has begun its sales campaign in earnest with an eye toward delivering a uniquely expressive building.

Its approximately 70 SOHO-inspired apartments are veiled by an articulated facade to Punt Road.

On the project's interiors, Decibel Architecture describes the project as "conceived to deliver a unique typology of living to the local area. The concept is developed around the idea of a “townhouse in the sky”. There are common entrance corridors or “streets” at every third level which create an entry to an interlocking network of dual fronted apartments."

Also on the architect's design agenda is the much-hyped Magic tower on the CBD's northern fringe. The development has been the topic of a <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/magic-melbourne-a-skyscraper-concept-with-a-philanthropic-purpose">podcast with the architect</a> on Urban.com.au, with a potential lodgement for approval in the pipeline.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public//pictures/article-images/image76_5.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Magic is another in Decibel Architecture's stable"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="381" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files//styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image76_5.jpg?itok=DZfT_vBQ" title="Magic is another in Decibel Architecture's stable" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Magic is another in Decibel Architecture's stable</figcaption></figure>
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silvermb

Decibel hits the mark in Kensington

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The Royal Society of Victoria has floated an ostentatious bid to deliver Melbourne's tallest skyscraper on one of the city's smallest land plots.

Dubbed 'Magic' the tower is slated to stand at 330 metres, surpassing Eureka Tower at 297 metres and the approved but yet to be built 1 Queensbridge at 323 metres. Decibel Architecture has joined forces with the Royal Society of Victoria to champion the project.

The scheme would be the nation's and the southern hemisphere's tallest skyscraper if realised.

The land area earmarked for the tower is a triangular vacant plot approximately the size of a tennis court on the corner of La Trobe and Victoria streets at the northern tip of the city, directly opposite Carlton Gardens and the Royal Exhibition Building. The development would also serve to allow Royal Society of Victoria to:

<ul>
<li>Support citizen science, technology, and science clubs across Melbourne and Victoria</li>
	<li>Enhance and upgrade the heritage-listed home of the RSV to meet modern accessibility requirements and be fit for the 21st century public engagement required.</li>
	<li>Develop a science engagement centre and science café</li>
	<li>Create a perpetual endowment fund, enabling the RSV’s purpose, projects and awards programs to be supercharged for the next 160 years</li>
</ul>
<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image24_4.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="RSV's envisaged skyscraper at the northern end of town"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="376" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image24_4.jpg?itok=iQRp8TAs" title="RSV's envisaged skyscraper at the northern end of town" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>RSV's envisaged skyscraper at the northern end of town. Image: Decibel Architecture</figcaption></figure>'Magic' is directly opposite S P Setia's twin-towered Shangri-La Hotel and apartment development at 308 Exhibition Street. When built, both of the towers at S P Setia's project will stand beyond the 200 metre mark in height, yet are comfortably dwarfed by Decibel Architecture's scheme.

Royal Society of Victoria notes that the skyscraper would serve a dual purpose. In addition to allowing for the upgrade of its adjacent home, the tower would also be a showcase for technology.

Decibel Architecture's Dylan Brady <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-12/magic-melbourne-tower-would-be-australias-tallest-building/9754652">said of the team's aspirations</a>:

<blockquote>
We intend to attract the minds of people like Elon Musk, like Richard Branson like Bill Gates, who all have philanthropic-driven understandings of value, who would love a fantastic apartment with a brilliant view knowing that the profit of their apartment is being channelled into the scientists and the science outreach programs of the Royal Society of Victoria for the next 160 years.

This is not a development play, this is not a large corporation making a lot of money and running away, this is a community-driven, purpose project.
</blockquote>

According to the development team the skyscraper is feasible from an engineering perspective, with the next step potentially a tilt at planning approval.

This may prove a more difficult step in the tower's process given the various heritage and planning overlays that would require approval from Heritage Victoria, the Federal Government from an aviation operations standpoint, and the Victorian Government.
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