architect design statement - Strathfield Council · architect design statement 1-9 the boulevarde STRATHFIELD ... Proposal is designed to encourage an integrated land use mix that

integratedDESIGNgroup architects bathurst | sydney

integratedDESIGNgroup p/l | abn 21 995 789 058 | nominated architects tony mcburney reg#5273 | simon thorne reg#7093 [email protected] | po box 1933 bathurst nsw 2795 | 6332 6206 t | 6332 6216 f

[email protected] | po box 122 concord west nsw 2138 | 9764 6100 t | 9764 6111 f page ! of ! | created 10 Feb 20161 13

architect design statement 1-9 the boulevarde STRATHFIELD

prepared for Esperia Court Pty Ltd for submission to Strathfield Council

February 2016

mailto:[email protected]



introduction We provide this architect’s statement with regard to the design quality of the proposed development at 1-9 The Boulevarde in Strathfield. The following statement outlines how the proposed development addresses key design criteria in its design to deliver the highest standard of architectural and urban design.

Through careful design consideration the proposal provides a landmark presence in the Strathfield Town Square precinct which has an elegance in its form; quality in its use of materials; sustainability through its incorporation of open green spaces on roof levels to promote healthy green spaces and a softening of the new urban landscape; and increases pedestrian activity and vibrancy through the design of retail spaces, and street frontages.

We believe that the development embraces the principles identified by council and the outcome is a building that will provide a high quality precedent for urban development in the precinct.

Yours faithfully

1Proposal has a high standard of architectural, landscape and urban design, will be constructed with quality materials and has a high standard of detailing that reflects the building type, location and the surrounding buildings.

2Proposal will significantly improve the quality and amenity of the public domain through the form, external appearance and ground level detailing of the development that addresses any heritage or streetscape issues.

3Proposal will not detrimentally impact on the amenity of the surrounding area, nor on any view corridors, vistas or landmark locations.

4Proposal will not detrimentally impact on pedestrian movements and experience, but will reinforce the public transport interchange as the focal point of movement for the area and facilitate the ease of such movement.

5Proposal is designed to encourage an integrated land use mix that reflects the desired future high quality town centre that supports a vibrant economic location, a lively social and community hub, and a diversity of public open spaces at the ground level, as well as the roof and other levels of the building

6Proposal includes building massing, modulation and bulk that is appropriate in the context of surrounding buildings in terms of its separation, setback, building street height and amenity and its relationship to such buildings.

7Proposal has achieved a high level of ecologically sustainable design, including low-energy or passive design, and minimises environmental impacts such as overshadowing, wind effects and reflectivity.

8Proposal supports designed sustainable urban mobility though a high quality pedestrian environment, high quality provision for cycling infrastructure, high quality service access, circulation and vehicular design.



Andrew Elia associate director | reg# 7928




1 | high quality design Proposal has a high standard of architectural, landscape and urban design, will be constructed with quality materials and has a high standard of detailing that reflects the building type, location and the surrounding buildings.

architectural design

The proposed design provides a landmark architectural building for the Strathfield Town Centre. As a backdrop to the vibrant Strathfield Plaza, and at the termination of The Boulevarde, and opposite one of the busiest railway stations in the city, the subject site is the most prominent in the Strathfield Town Centre and as such requires a development that establishes Strathfield as a major, commercial, retail centre within Sydney.

Rather than repeating the residential grain of surrounding developments, this development embodies a sleek elegant form to reflect the commercial and retail nature of a CBD location, with feature at the corner to promote the public engagement with the community

As a prominent corner location the the proposal deliberately creates a corner podium feature which is a glass walled element separated from the rest of the building, and wrapped in an external exoskeleton structure. Above this feature is a floating box which is clad in a glazed curtain wall structure to indicate the commercial and professional nature of the space. Between these two elements is an external terrace which is accessible by the public during hours of operation and has a direct engagement with the public plaza below.

The tower then rises out of the ground and wraps over the corner elements to create an elegant, dynamic structure which is a clean crisp facade which is low maintenance but has a striking appearance from Strathfield station and Parramatta Road as a marker for the Strathfield Town Centre.






urban design

The proposal has considered the objectives of the Strathfield LEP 2013 and the Strathfield Town Centre DRAFT masterplan, and the neighbouring Burwood LGA controls for the eastern side of The Boulevarde in determining the urban response.

The proposed FSR and height controls provide a reasonable development density in the area to provide street walls alongside the busy town centre streets and provide a useful backdrop to the town square. This density allows for increased residential housing, and commercial tenancy which in turn provides vibrant public activity at the ground level which is ideal for a commercial and retail precinct that fronts a public square.

The urban form developing in the precinct also allow for greater definition and importance to Strathfield key public open space in the plaza. In turn, the proposal provides a precedent for the area by deliberately creating a a finer grain to this large urban street wall by providing a more slender vertical oriented building which speaks to ‘a Strathfield pas’t of a collection of small land owners coming together to form a town centre.

The existing controls for height and FSR for the subject site are lower than this proposal indicates. This is in fact detrimental to the objectives of the Town Square by taking away the prominence of the corner on the public plaza, but also breaking the intended street wall that is created by the height and FSR of the neighbouring buildings.

As such the proposal seeks to increase these controls to be the same as the adjacent neighbours to provide consistency in the urban fabric, and to highlight the landmark corner for the new Strathfield CBD.






landscape

The landscape design provides a welcome relief to the harsh urban landscape surrounding it. The upper roof and podium terrace provide useable practical roof terrace, which is a secure place for tenants to enjoy views of the Sydney CBD to the east and the blue mountains to the west.

This terrace has a landscape border that provides protection from the wind, a soft edge to the building, and reduction in heat load from the surrounding harsh environment of the inner west.

This soft landscaping is also repeated on the Level 2 terrace which is available to the public and connected to the retail tenancies in the development. This terrace has a direct connection to the plaza below.

materials

The proposal also includes a selection of materials which both achieve the objectives of a sleek, modern new heart of the commercial centre of Strathfield, whilst also providing an engaging public building at the podium level which illustrates the retail heart of the development. With an alucabond cladding to the tower, curtain wall glazing to the commercial box, and an exoskeleton frame to the podium feature on the corner the materials provide a clean, functional, low maintenance solution which provides a permanency to the development.






2 | the public domain Proposal will significantly improve the quality and amenity of the public domain through the form, external appearance and ground level detailing of the development that addresses any heritage or streetscape issues.

The proposed development responds strongly to the site context and contributes to the vibrancy of Strathfield community. Attention to form, massing and facade detail ensures that the building is a distinctive building situated amongst the vibrant suburb of Strathfield. A thorough design process has been undertaken in the development of these buildings to ensure a high quality product is provided.

The proposal for this site seeks to create a building that is engaged with its surroundings and provide a strong connection to the vibrant Strathfield community. Strathfield plaza draws in many people for dining and entertainment and is conveniently located adjacent to Strathfield Station for bus and rail interchange. This development provides opportunity to bring about social cohesion and people living their lives together.

The corner feature allows the development to address the plaza and the boulevard equally. On the plaza side the development provides a cafe eating area, and large steps for seating by the public imitating the public buildings in many european piazzas.

In addition to this by pulling the corner feature out from the rest of the building the development creates a new internal retail arcade which brings the public through the development allowing constant activity throughout the ground level.






3 | impact to local area Proposal will not detrimentally impact on the amenity of the surrounding area, nor on any view corridors, vistas or landmark locations.

The small nature of the site implies that a vertical development response be made. This allows a focal point at the end of The Boulevarde without removing the view of Strathfield train station. Similarly from the station the view of the plaza along The Boulevarde is maintained.

This minimal impact can be seen in the shadow diagrams below. While a shadows is cast over neighbouring developments, the impact of that shadow is reduced as it moves throughout the day.

The impact of the tower is a positive one as the tower provides a landmark throughout the area of the Strathfield of the Strathfield CBD, shopping centre, and railway station.






4 | environmental impact Proposal will not detrimentally impact on pedestrian movements and experience, but will reinforce the public transport interchange as the focal point of movement for the area and facilitate the ease of such movement.

Through the creation of a new arcade, the addition of a publicly accessible terrace on level two, the creation of a outdoor eating area, a ‘public’ staircase for seating fronting the existing public plaza to the north, this development improves the existing pedestrian environment, promoting pedestrian focused community spaces.

Retail activity, dining and open air cafe opportunities are positioned to directly address the public plaza. This street frontage to the north of the development is also at a high level than the plaza which creates a dynamic relationship between the two spaces allowing activity at different levels.

The Level 2 terrace is accessible by the public during hours of operation for the retail centre and provides for some surveillance over the public plaza and a different viewpoint of the plaza for members of the public.

In addition to this, by moving the vehicle access to the building to the corner of the development, and creating an arcade through the development, the development also provides a separation between vehicles and pedestrians which improves safety through out hours of operation.






5 | impact to local area Proposal is designed to encourage an integrated land use mix that reflects the desired future high quality town centre that supports a vibrant economic location, a lively social and community hub, and a diversity of public open spaces at the ground level, as well as the roof and other levels of the building

retail The new arcade is the entry to a new retail shopping centre which is built around a 3 storey atrium and sheltered by the tower floating above. This retail centre provides a different character, high class retail tenancy for the Strathfield CBD containing both food and non food tenancies. It is to contain smaller boutique tenancies so as not to compete with existing larger scale retail in the existing shopping centre.

commercial The commercial component of the development is unique to this area. It is a commercial presence visible from the public realm, floating above the corner feature allowing the activities of businesses to be present and visible in the public space. It is a simple representation of the change to the Strathfield CBD providing spaces for higher quality commercial tenancies in a landmark architecturally designed tower.

residential The apartment mix ensures a diversity of dwelling type to encourage occupation by a wide cross section of the community & with proximity to public transport the units are well positioned to offer a range of lifestyle options.






6 | building massing and modulation Proposal includes building massing, modulation and bulk that is appropriate in the context of surrounding buildings in terms of its separation, setback, building street height and amenity and its relationship to such buildings.

There are two objectives with a development of this kind. Provide enough bulk and massing to achieve the objectives of the urban street walls of the development (as addressed in Section 1), but also provide enough modulation and definition in the facade so as not to create large monolithic buildings facing the public square.

The development addresses this by dividing the building up into 3 distinct components with visible pedestrian activity between:

feature podium: The glazed exoskeleton structure on the corner provides a feature visible form the plaza, along Churchhill avenue, and along the Boulevarde. This feature marks the pedestrian activity of the building and its retail tenancies on the lower 3 levels and provides a creative and inspiring presence for the public space.

glazed box: The glazed box floats over the feature podium and becomes the marker for the commercial lobby within. It reflects a streamlined, simple and functional presence above the energetic ground level.

folding tower: The form of this tower folding up and over the glazed box on the corner bring a lightness and freedom to the structure and connects both street frontages in a dynamic way. Also, the built form of the tower lightly “touches” the ground level, re-enforcing its elegance.






7 | ecologically sustainable design Proposal has achieved a high level of ecologically sustainable design, including low-energy or passive design, and minimises environmental impacts such as overshadowing, wind effects and reflectivity.

The proposed building is designed with passive environmental principles in mind allowing greater access to daylight, fresh air, and planting. The open roofed atrium enhances a resident’s quality of life by providing access to a natural green environment. The atrium will provide cross ventilation opportunities for each apartment and energy saving measures such as energy efficient hot water systems, light sensors and timers have been incorporated. The apartment design and positioning allows for passive solar gain and enjoyment of natural ventilation.

The roof garden provides green spaces to all fences providing opportunity for a relaxed social gathering or a quiet ‘pause’ in an individual’s daily routine. Outlook to suburb views and distant views to the mountains will contribute to the resident’s quality of life. Different seating arrangements allow for a variety of social interactions.

The planting and water catchment has been designed in a accordance with green amenity factor, as have the P.V. panels located at the roof level. Level 10 has allocated space for on site detention of storm and rainwater recycling in line with water sensitive urban design guide. The rainwater recycling can be reused for roof garden irrigation ensuring a sustainable free space is maintained for all tenants.






8 | urban mobility Proposal supports designed sustainable urban mobility though a high quality pedestrian environment, high quality provision for cycling infrastructure, high quality service access, circulation and vehicular design.

This proposal is highly connected at street level for pedestrians. The ground floor retail opportunities support the public plaza and activates it further by provision of additional spaces for pedestrians to move through and explore. The through site link reinforces the public transport interchange as the focal point and floor circulation encourages movement onto the boulevard and provides greater permeability to existing developments to the south.

The level 2 landscaped roof provides a new and exciting space for the Strathfield community to further enjoy the public plaza. This significant terrace space could be used co-operatively with council as part of the community activities within the square. It has been previously suggested to council that an interactive screen could be placed at this terrace and facade for council displays and movie evenings. This is an opportunity which is open for further discussion.

Significant cycling infrastructure is included for residents at basement levels, enabling the use of bicycles as a daily transport option, reducing the reliance of personal motor vehicles.

The service areas have been planned to ensure efficiency of space and ease of facilities management across the development. Circulation is centralised through the lift core which connects all levels allowing tenants and residents direct access to service zones and storage areas. The vehicular design allows for tenant and visitor parking and access of private waste contractor to service the development as required.






councils key development standards

The following statement provides an assessment of the development against the Strathfield Local Environmental Plan 2013 and Strathfield Town Centre DCP 2005.

The design quality of the proposed development addresses many of Council current design requirements while allowing for expected future population growth and commercial expansion of the Strathfield community. The building modulation is appropriate and the architectural context and ecologically sustainable design is consistent with Strathfield Councils vision. This proposal aims to add to the existing retail and commercial vitality of Strathfield allowing a culturally vibrant and enhanced town square to prosper.

control proposed compliance

Floor Space Ratio maximum FSR 5:1

The proposed development has a FSR of 7:1.

This exceeds the FSR allowable for the front site but is consistent with the FSR of adjoining properties.

NO seek variation to LEP

Height 42m maximum height

The proposed development has a height of 54m.

This exceeds the FSR allowable for the site but is consistent with the FSR of adjoining properties.


Front Setbacks 0m setback ground above podium > 5-7m

varies between 0 - 5m throughout, responds to existing building alignment and to address corner


Side Setback (DCP) podium 0m setback above podium 0m allotment to core on southern boundary, 3m setback on western boundary

not applicable

Rear Setback (DCP) not applicable not applicable





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architect design statement - Strathfield Council · architect design statement 1-9 the boulevarde STRATHFIELD ... Proposal is designed to encourage an integrated land use mix that