Scott Carver has unveiled a design for the redevelopment of the former Balmain Leagues Club in Rozelle, inner-west Sydney.
Plans for the disused site include a mixed-use precinct organized around a central village square, comprising a series of laneways and a major retail hub with apartments above.
The architect said the project is a “true mixed-use precinct,” comprising high-end residential apartments, alongside a supermarket, commercial and community spaces, a central plaza, and a new West Ashfield Leagues Club.
Situated on a corner site bordered by Victoria Road, Darling Street and Waterloo Street, the former club site has been closed for more than 12 years and was devastated by a fire in 2022.
Render of community hub in Rozelle, featuring a retail precinct and high-end apartments.
Image:
Scott Carver
The developer recently lodged an amendment to the approved development application, seeking to reduce the number of proposed apartments from 167 to 147, while also increasing the proportion of two- and three-bedroom apartments. The project seeks to transform a “historically significant site [into a] cultural and community-focused place” for locals to live, work and play, Scott Carver said.
The project’s materiality will feature a “contemporary, contextual character,” the architect said, realised through a series of cascading terraced brickwork buildings.
The buildings are organized around a public plaza and village square, and collectively respond to the scale and texture of the urban condition that the site fronts. The podium forms – each between two and three storeys – create a network of pedestrian links through the site, and colonnades will draw visitors through the ground plane into the central plaza.
The articulated tower forms will float above the red brick podiums, containing the residential apartment levels. The buildings will feature expressive facades incorporating vertical and horizontal elements alike, while winter gardens will be incorporated on the Victoria Road front to transition to open balconies that face over the plaza and Waterloo Street.
The development will feature a variety of private and communal garden spaces to enhance user wellbeing and provide visual appeal throughout the precinct.
Construction is expected to commence in mid-2023 with completion slated for 2025.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
