Abercrombie Apartments

In its original state, the site formed part of the territory of the Darug Coastal Nation. A natural watercourse named Blackwattle (Wadanguli) Swamp Creek ran through the site. The alignments of Blackfriars Street and Buckland Street loosely represent the alignment of these former creeks today. The local street names are Celtic origin, such as Aber-crombie, meaning ‘a place where two or more rivers meet’, historically referencing the site to its original state. Chippendale today is a unique inner-city suburb of Sydney, a cutting edge creative scene, and respectfully protective of its character & heritage.

The client is an engineer and an investor, so we were required to provide an efficient layout, maximised net sellable area, and logical & clever design. It required a  strategic design of reducing the servicing requirements that our regulations, on regulations, on regulations demand. 

The proposed dynamic ‘twisting’ zinc form of the 2-storey rooftop addition responds to the concept & meaning of “crombie” which is the river bend, and in this case the bent form is derived from the former alignment of the Blackwattle Swamp Creek.

This particular our ‘historical’ design response helped justify the addition of the 2-storey roof top penthouse apartments given we were in a Heritage Conservation Area. We worked closely with the professional design team at Sydney City Council to delicately increase our density, and gain design approval beyond the building envelope & above height limits. The project was supported by Graham Jahn the director of the City of Sydney.

We not only navigated the Council DCP & LEP, but also heritage, change of use, contamination, geotech, acoustics, fire compartments & fire escapes & fire hydrants, lift requirements, security & access, residential & commercial waste management, parking & storage requirements, traffic assessments, hydraulic, electrical, mechanical & air systems, shadow projections & sun studies, disabled access / accessibility, dilapidation reports, structural engineering of existing structure & new.

We were head consultant to a team of 20+ required consultants, and also worked alongside with client, investor, builder / project manager, tradesmen & even the sales team.

With the residential entry foyer on the quieter street front, a commercial entity facing the arterial road, and myriad of necessary back of house services all needed to be worked into the ground floor. Then 2 apartments located on each floor, and two amazing penthouses protrude above the existing brick facade, with a uniquely modern architectural form.

Much of the lateral thinking was completed at the front end of the project, to ensure its viability before proceeding onwards. There were many hurdles, which challenged our creative design implementation.

Besides the multitude of constraints already mentioned, very unique to most apartment buildings…we were retrofitting a heritage, brick, industrial building which was unusually internally timber framed. We navigated hefty carparking requirements proposing off street parking & providing residents with bike lockers. We also provided apartments with operable windows for natural ventilation.

Our design also proposed no shared lift lobbies between apartments. The central lift transports residents from the ground floor lobby and directly opens into their inner-city apartment – there are no shared lobbies. This is extremely unique for the majority of other apartment buildings. Front end security systems were developed with the lift suppliers, to ensure the residents could maintain privacy & security between street level lobby & their individual apartments, & specific acoustic tests were undertaken to ensure no noise transfer through lift doors, fire engineers modelled alternate escape routes, smoke and heat requirements…and the certification team found avenues to maintain compliance with the codes, servicing and OH&S requirements.

With clever ‘front end’ design not only did we hurdle many complex constraints, but we gained a 20% increase of net sellable residential area for our client, which is a substantial gain towards project viability.

Complex parameters only seem challenge us further, and this project certainly provided many challenges, from concept, viability, through design & all necessary approvals, to documentation & details for construction, all selections of fittings & finishes, site administration & site meetings. We were even engaged to collaborate with the marketing team to sell the apartments. Grateful to the trust installed in our ability, we were able to see the architecture come to fruition.

Abercrombie creates a well-articulated and rich living addition that is envisaged to be a positive contribution to the quality and amenity of the area, and sympathetic to the Heritage Conservation Area in which it is situated.

Consultant Team: Smyth Planning. Craig Burton Heritage. Vic Lilli & Partners. Dix Gardner BCA. Electrical Projects Australia. BSE Fire, Mechanical & Hydraulic. Acoustic Logic. Don Edgar Energy Assess. SLR Consulting Construct, Waste & Environmental. TTPA & Associates Traffic. MBM Quantity Surveyor. Martins & Associates Contamination Assess. True North. Adam Clerke Surveyors. Peter J Boyce BCA.