Project Description

Moreville Apartments is a boutique collection of just 58 apartments with parking. Moull Murray have brought their signature style to create an elegant and individual architectural statement with spectacular views of the city skyline. 

 

Each apartment has been meticulously planned to enrich the flow of space and complement your own sense of style. The interiors work in harmony, flowing seamlessly between open plan living and expansive outdoor terraces, Altair will inspire a new sense of living. 

 

Architecturally designed by award winning Moull Murray Architects, these apartments are inspired by Footscray’s traditional building styles, where contemporary design meets industrial chic. Look out to the city skyline, trees and village rooftops . Close to it all, Altair is in a village where  you'll love to live, with cafe's, bars, transport and universities. See more and do more in a heartbeat. 

 

Moreville’s architectural expression is a singular, cohesive and respectful addition to what is a highly desired location for living, working and playing. 

 

The design solution provides a coherent streetscape in a fast developing neighbourhood, creating opportunities for living and working. The design comprises of commercial tenancies at street level and residents amenities above this. Apartments are orientated to the North and East towards the city to gain views. The façade is carefully articulated through texture and materiality.

 

Overall Orientation

Two streets – Napier Street and Moreland Street, define the site. Napier street is a busy road with heavy traffic, and Moreland street transitions towards a quieter, leafy residential neighborhood. The design therefore turns its back to the busy southern street and embraces the residential suburb to the North, but not without a quick side-glance back towards the city. The majority of the multiple residential units are orientated towards the North to gain the advantage of winter sun. Multiple residential units to the Moreland Street frontage are orientated East toward the street, and gain views back towards the city.

 

Social interaction

The articulation module imposed on the facade offers for a vareity of balcony conditions. These reference the balconies of Herman Hertzberger which are designed to encourage social interaction and hence cohesion through internal overlooking. 

 

Buffer Façade and Choice of Material Pallete

Acoustic protection from the road was a concern at the outset, hence sturdy Class 2 precast concrete was chosen as a cladding. The walkway, placed along the Napier Street frontage is protected by a buffer screen of polycarbonate cladding. The material is celebrated on a monolithic level in its application and reads as a large unbroken, and at night glowing, surface.

 

Expression of Mass

The mass of the development is broken up into base, middle and upper zone. The zones are differentiated by materiality treatment.

 

Articulation

Two façade conditions predominate – balcony and wall with window. With the balconies, vertical precast concrete elements create a rhythm, which is offset according the zone. This further reinforces the differentiation between the lower and upper part of the building. The wall with window condition is articulated by the horizontal expression of the window band, which is expressed through surface differentiation.

 

Greenery

A large tree is planted in the car park to offer relief to the north facing apartments and acts a screening element. Additional planting is placed along the neighboring boundary edge

 

Moreland Street Facade - Street activation and passive surveillance

Moreland Street is embraced by the apartments. This façade is heavily articulated with precast panels attached to the slab edge. This articulating extends into the café façade below. T he extensive Moreland street verge is hence activated and views towards the city down Napier Street are maximized. The result is an activated street corner with an articulated interface.

 

Ventilated Walkway

The development incorporates a ventilated walkway, screened from the heavy traffic with an opaque polycarbonate cladding. The screen insures that the walkway is ventilated and well lit but protected from the busy street. Planters to the edge of the walkway add a touch of greenery. Voids in the walkway provide inter – level surveillance. The generous walkway becomes an elevated street where chance encounters occur and people meet.

 

Portal - Sense of address

The entrance to the apartments is expressed through a grand gesture of an oversize portal. Green is used to internally to highlight the cutout. Glazing to the walkway to this portal provides surveillance. 

 

Material Pallete

A pallet of precast concrete, polycarbonate and glass is used throughout. Green is used to highlight cutouts to the building mass. Light, smooth concrete is played off against darker, corrugated concrete

 

The base of the development is composed of shopfront, a graffiti resistant facade, and has an allotted surface for the urban art component, which should acknowledge the artistic graffiti heritage of Melbourne.