Project Overview

KEE is a mixed use architectural feature in Sydney’s western suburb of Lidcombe. It has been conceived as a village unto itself, a direct response to its local context with an architectural expression, and sophistication not generally found in suburban market housing of this type. The resultant form is a simple distillation of planning envelopes and client objectives and an exemplary addition to the Lidcombe town centre and skyline.

Organisation

Piety THP Construction Pty Ltd

Team

PietyTHP Developments is an innovative property company with a reputation for delivering stylish, elegant and diverse projects.

With over 30 years combined development experience, the Piety Developments team creates high profile, distinctive projects through strong partnerships, innovative design solutions and cutting-edge construction methods.

PietyTHP Developments prides itself on it's solid track record, which is a testament to their ongoing success and reputation.

Project Brief

The project is an 11 storey mixed use development compromising 147 high quality residential apartments with 620sqm of active ground floor retail. Located on the southern side of the Lidcombe Town Centre very close to the train station the building is a classic block form that addresses the two streets that it fronts. Most apartments are oriented for optimal solar exposure and the building form is manipulated to provide cross flow natural ventilation. The apartments are single level with various configurations suited to diverse lifestyles, family and household compositions.

The building is split into two cores and expressed as two adjacent forms with each given the same architectural expression and materiality. This facilitates a residential lobby on each of the main streets, minimises corridor lengths and allows the building to step in response to the natural topography of the site.

KEE provides two distinct and attractive communal open spaces, one a reflective ground floor courtyard retreat and the other an active sun drenched roof top terrace incorporating communal facilities giving residents options for engaging with both the open space and each other.

Project Innovation/Need

Fuse undertook a detailed investigation and mapping 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-storey 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

Starting as 2300m2 of petrol station and light industrial land very close to a train station 18km from the CBD, the challenge from an urban perspective was to reinvigorate the southern side of the Lidcombe Town Centre and to find a place in a crowded residential market. The scheme masterfully did both and has become an architectural gem with an elegance and identity of its own.

The proposal put simply is a manifestation of the future objectives of the Lidcombe Town Centre. Its principle proposition is to efficiently and skilfully realise a singular articulated and contemporary architectural expression of what is a simple perimeter block form. This reinforces and activates the two streets it fronts, provides maximum amenity to residents and improves the expectations for what is possible for future Sydney housing.

The building is a sophisticated composition that utilises a simple and robust material palate respecting the areas historic context and befitting its future ambitions. It incorporates the gesture of shifting apartment floorplans to allow for improved sunlight, daylight 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 how the element has been used. Habitable rooms become surfaces, balconies and slots become voids that when grouped together become a modulated whole.

Sustainability

KEE deploys various passive solar design concepts to maximise access to 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 maximizes 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 has been organised to provide good natural day lighting and solar access into the primary living spaces and external living areas of the maximum number of apartments.

Roof top 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 will be fitted with energy efficient appliances, fittings and services such as water reduction shower heads, dual flush toilets and gas cook tops. Lighting to dwellings and common areas will be a combination of LED, compact fluorescent and halogen lights fitted with motion sensors where appropriate