Designed by Loucas Zahos Architects, Silk builds on the strong heritage of the community that is Racecourse Road, Ascot.
Ascot is an old-established and upmarket suburb on Brisbane’s near-city northside.
Sited on a strategic corner site bound by Racecourse Road and Beatrice Terrace, the design explores vertical integration in what is a mixed-use development.
Aligned with Racecourse Road, the retail and local office accommodation re-enforces the linear axis of commercial development of the Street.
Racecourse Road at each intersection is flanked by high-quality residential streets aligned on the grid on an east-west axis.
Silk does this with the upper residential levels, accessed from Beatrice Terrace predominantly aligned which this street and having a north aspect.
The arrangement and circulation separate the uses and limit access to the residential areas.
The geometry of the building articulates the ground retail to the dominant “residential mass” of the building.
The office space sited between these two elements and is recessed to provide a strong articulation in the above two dominant uses.
Given that offices are passive spaces generally limited to a 9-5 weekday operation, siting them here provided a passive separation for the benefit of the residential areas from the ground floor retail.
The building’s architecture celebrates residential use.
Large bedroom bays, always orientated diagonally towards the corner and partially finished in “off form” concrete, are guided by the strong rhythm of trees that align both streets.
The design is purposely organic in nature, with soft rounded corners and in a colour assimilating with the aging tree topography of Poincianas and Jacarandas.
Balconies bridge the bay windows and are set back and finished in mat perforated metal, to recede and articulate.
The intent of the uppermost story is to capture light with high ceilings generated by a roof which is a floating plane with large overhangs.
These overhangs provide protection and shelter to the continuous outdoor living edges around the building.
This large verandah-roof is finished in a contemporary geometric patination reminiscent of the traditional pressed-metal ceiling often used in the surrounding house fabric.
The apartments are accessed from the rear by open breezeways flanked by green walls, traditional brickwork, large voids, and raw concrete finishes.
These “alleys” provide intimate access, and free air movement to the apartment entries and minor bedrooms.
The breezeways incorporate an internal staircase, accessed from the lobby.
Skewed to accentuate perspective, whilst a lift provides direct access, encourages this as the main point for circulation, visible from the woven silk-inspired main entry.
The building steps around a large Jacaranda sited within the property boundary almost directly at the corner street intersection.
At the ground plane, the retail offer envisaged as a café, opens and encapsulates the canopy.
Here the corner, in time, will become a place of meeting, food, and community continuing this long tradition in this very old neighbourhood.
Project Details
Completion Date – 2020
Building Levels – 4
Project Team
Architecture
Loucas Zahos Architects
Loucas Zahos Architects seeks to deliver creative design solutions that encapsulate notions of harmony, elegance, sophistication, and individual expression.
Photography
Christopher Frederick Jones
Christopher is an experienced architectural and interiors photographer based in Brisbane, Australia.
Photo Gallery
Click on a thumbnail image to enlarge.
Design © 2021 Loucas Zahos Architects. All Rights Reserved.| Images © 2021 Christopher Frederick Jones. All Rights Reserved.
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