City West Housing- Alexandria
AJC won City of Sydney Design Excellence Competition for a 250-unit affordable housing community in Sydney’s Inner South. AJC’s multi-core design strategy inspired the Client by establishing a series of intimate ‘neighbourhoods’, breaking up the building massing, bringing natural light and ventilation into often neglected ancillary rooms such as kitchens and bathrooms.
The corner site on Botany Road, Alexandria, is within an area rapidly morphing from light industrial and commercial to more mixed use and residential. The winning AJC scheme delivers 246 residential apartments of one, two and three bedrooms across eight buildings ranging from 12 Storeys along Botany Road down to 7 Storeys on the small adjacent street.
The urban response sees robust masonry forms with strongly articulated framing in a palette of materials and wetland and sand dune tones. On approach, the facades will reveal a richness of detail, craftsmanship and quality.
Street frontages will be activated with retail shops interspersed among the residential entry ‘mews’. The design overlays the sustainability initiatives required by City of Sydney’s forward thinking planning controls with a sculpted built form that maximises solar access and natural cross-ventilation along a major traffic route. Landscape is part of the sustainability strategy, caring for Country by restoring endemic plant systems, including roof garden spaces, densely planted terraces and an increase to the urban tree canopy.
Communal shared space is an important feature in the scheme, with just over one-third of the site (over 2,400 sqm) dedicated to it. Shared landscapes within this space will acknowledge traditional custodians of the land, the Gadi, Merooberah and Kamay clans, by referencing the pre-Colonial wetland and sand dune Country through the building material and plant selections.
Project Facts
Location |
Gadigal people of the Eora nation, Alexandria NSW |
Client |
City West Housing |
Services |
Architecture, Interior Design |
Status |
Conceptual |
Photography |
AJC |
Key Contacts
Lee Collard
Studio Director View profile
