Image Credit : Binyan
Project Overview
On the ground floor of Kee at Lidcombe are three commercial suites which will inject more life into the area’s already rich blend of residential and commercial activity. Lidcombe is celebrated for its relaxed, suburban atmosphere and easy access to a host of golf clubs, parklands, and botanical gardens. With Sydney Olympic Park as a neighbour, KEE Lidcombe also boasts an array of sporting, cultural and leisure activities all year round.
Light-filled, homely and comfortable. That’s what residential life at KEE Lidcombe looks and feels like. The 11-storey apartment development arriving on the scene in the heart of Lidcombe is the residential opportunity many have been waiting for. Taking up its prime position in one of Sydney’s most sought-after western suburbs, KEE Lidcombe contains 139 apartments, predominantly one and two bedroom configurations, with a limited number of three bedroom options available.
Located just 50m from Lidcombe Train Station, this mixed use development opens up a world of convenience.
Organisation
Team
PietyTHP – Developer
Fuse – Architect
Xavier Knight Consulting - Structure
ACE Engineering - Civil
Wood & Grieve - Hydraulic, Mechanical, Electrical & Fire
Acoustic Logic – Acoustic
BCA Energy – BASIX
Wall-to-Wall - Access
Black Beetle - Landscape
Steve Watson & Partners - PCA
Varga - Traffic
RLB - QS
Project Brief
The original site was a petrol station and light industrial land very close to a train station and 18kms from the CBD, it had ambitions to reinvigorate the southern side of the Lidcombe Town Centre and to find a place in a crowded residential market. The brief was to transform this derelict site into an architectural gem with elegance and identity of its own.
The architectural intervention by Fuse was to create a village, consisting of 139 apartments atop 620sqm of active ground floor retail commercial along two street frontages. This outcome provides two distinct and attractive communal open spaces, one a reflective ground floor courtyard retreat and the other an active sun-drenched rooftop terrace incorporating communal facilities.
The proposal is a manifestation of the future objectives of the Lidcombe Town Centre. Its principle proposition is to realise most efficiently and skilfully a singular articulated and contemporary architectural expression of what is a simple perimeter block form, reinforcing and activating the two streets it fronts, whilst providing maximum amenity to residents and improving the expectations for what is possible for Sydney housing.
Project Innovation/Need
Detailed investigations and mapping were undertaken of the dynamic fusion of village convenience and easy city access, the thriving community of Lidcombe is celebrated for its relaxed suburban ambience and convenience to major lifestyle facilities.
Delivering easy access to a host of golf clubs, parklands as well as botanical gardens, the area neighbours Sydney Olympic Park, boasting an array of sporting, cultural and leisure activities all year round.
We sought to explore the latent potential for innovation in multiple dwelling housing, to find a way to deliver maximum amenity to future occupants and to contribute positively to the public domain. The result was an outstanding range of contemporary amenities and facilities.
From a commanding 11-story streetscape with relaxing south-facing communal courtyard and extending to the idyllic rooftop gardens with panoramic views from the city to the mountains, an unquestionable level of quality living will be enjoyed by residents and their guests alike.
Design Challenge
The building is a sophisticated 11-storey composition that utilises a simple and robust material palate respecting the area’s historical context and befitting its future ambitions.
It incorporates the gesture of shifting apartment floorplans to allow maximum density, improved sunlight access, and natural ventilation as well as protecting the amenity of the individual units.
This shift in plan offers to the street a series of vertical forms that vary in width and expression depending on the element’s use: habitable rooms become surfaces, balconies and slots become voids that when grouped become a modulated whole.
The variation is consolidated and controlled through the insertion of strong masonry blades that cantilever above and beyond the floorplan across the full depth of the building acting as an architectural crutch stitching the individual gestures together for a coherent form.
Sustainability
KEE has various passive solar design concepts to maximise natural light, natural ventilation and reduce the requirement for energy consumption and the carbon footprint of the development more broadly. Careful siting and orientation of the building form maximises the number of apartments with optimal solar access.
Vertical slots within the façade allow centrally located apartments on a typical floorplate to act as corner apartments for increased access to light and natural cross ventilation. Apartment configuration and orientation have been organised to provide good natural daylighting and solar access into the primary living spaces and external living areas of the maximum number of apartments.
Rooftop terraces have been integrated to reduce heat loss and to recollect rainwater through planting. Standardisation of a limited number of apartment layouts and types as well as kitchens and bathrooms increases economies and limits the potential for waste on a typical floorplate across the project.
Materials have been chosen and integrated carefully to include locally produced panelised façade cladding system in both party walls (HEBEL) and external façades (INEX) as well as metal sheet cladding to fast track the erection of the development and minimise the carbon miles used in the construction.
KEE is fitted with energy efficient appliances, fittings and services such as water reduction shower heads, dual flush toilets and gas cooktops. Lighting to dwellings and common is a combination of LED, compact fluorescent and halogen lights fitted with motion sensors where appropriate.
Tags
Architecture - Proposed - Large Site
This award celebrates the design process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. Consideration given for material selection, technology, light and shadow. The project can be a concept, tender or personal project, i.e. proposed space.
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