"This is an exemplar development through its plan. The simple exterior walls made of precast concrete enable a lesson in architectural composition and simplicity; with inboard balconies and a simple rectangular form, the building is able to economically redress the now familiar poor planning in buildings of a similar type and economic constraint. The plan provides a clear strategy disciplined around the necessary sourcing of light and privacy to each room but enabling sound amenity despite the simple plan and the lack of surface area in facades. The facades take the disciplined approach of one highlight colour and one understating colour to offer a presence to the street that is at once contextual and new. This project rationalises the constraints in which it is working and achieves its strength through those constraints to offer a simple, though not obvious, lesson about the economy and richness of form in a plan."

Jury Citation: Multiple Housing
NSW Architecture Awards 2010

As the first apartment building to be designed and constructed under Bankstown Council's new Yagoona Town Centre plans, this project presented the opportunity to establish a benchmark in Yagoona. The new apartments have been designed with an eye to future urban development as well as remaining sympathetic to the current context. Achieving a high level of residential amenity was foremost within the strategy, and it was therefore important to remain cognisant of the impact of future higher density development in the town centre to assure the future amenity. All this was to be achieved in a context where more careful consideration of the broader issues of urban design, amenity, delight, and architectural expression are subservient to the conventions and tighter budgets commensurate with developments in western Sydney.

The apartment scheme has been designed about two defining propositions, developed concurrently. The first was to both step the built mass in scale from the highway and to arrange the volumes in order to define a shared landscape as well as the space of the street. The second proposition was to recess the balconies or loggias within the mass of the building rather than project balconies. The scheme is further defined through the expression of it's precast concrete construction, which was utilised to develop a richer, complex expression to the buildings.

The completed development sits comfortably within the current context. A generous shared landscape contributes to both the amenity of site and streetscape alike. Strong volumes are punctuated by bold panels of colour and deep shadows play within the recesses of the loggias and across textured concrete as the sun moves across the sky. Apartments are thoughtfully planned with the majority of habitable rooms arranged around recessed balconies or loggias, providing both oblique and direct solar access and outlook, improved privacy, and increased opportunities for natural ventilation. In these ways a project has been developed that rewards at all scales, from the strong and positive new presence in the Yagoona Town Centre, down to the delightful, functional rooms and private balconies of the apartments.