City of Melbourne councillors have voted in support a design for a 20-storey office tower that will be built above the historic Kilkenny Inn at the intersection of Lonsdale Street and King Street in the CBD.
Cox Architecture’s design is conceived as a “a building of buildings” rather than one large mass, with the use of different materials and setbacks to provide articulation and variety.
572 Lonsdale Street by Cox Architecture.
A break in the primary facade at 25 metres will creates the visual and physical transition to the tower form, resulting in a podium that is human scale and “responds respectfully to heritage buildings.”
Most of the Kilkenny Inn will be demolished to make way for the tower, but the existing building’s street façades, the external sidewalls and part of the roof will be retained.
Solid brickwork at the base of the building will anchor the building to its immediate context.
“The contemporary use of brickwork is an acknowledgement of the site’s previous uses and structures,” the architects note in planning documents. “The brickwork continues up the Lonsdale Street facade and forms the principal building frontage.
572 Lonsdale Street by Cox Architecture.
“The King Street facade comprises bluestone and steel. The bluestone is a reference to the bluestone warehouses that remain along King Street and form an important element of the city’s early built fabric. The transition of materials break down the overall scale of the proposal and suggest a building of buildings rather than one large mass.”
The proponent first submitted plans to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning in December 2019, and the proposal has since undergone major revisions.
The latest plans, informed by feedback from the City of Melbourne officers, were provided to council on 26 April 2021, on a without prejudice basis. Officers found the plans generally complied with the relevant heritage policy and were supportable, with some conditions.
Councillors voted to approve the plans on 18 May. The final decision on the proposal belongs to the planning minister.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
