MELBOURNE SKYSCRAPER GROWS A SPINE

UNStudio has presented its proposal for Southbank by Beulah, a competition to build a new skyscraper in Melbourne, Australia. This green spine configuration offers porous city views and improved contextual links. The proposal is competing against entries from other high-profile firms, including OMA an MAD architects, and Coop Himmelb(l)au.

UNStudio’s design for the mixed-use tower integrates a host of programs, including recreation, retail, offices, residential, hotel and exhibition spaces, within the building’s vertically stepped public infrastructure. A series of spatial frames, which mediate between the indoor and outdoor space, provide a porousness at street level, while simultaneously connecting the upper floors with the streetscape by expanding the public realm.


The primary characteristic of the design is its ‘green spine’, an architectural element that incorporates a multitude of functions in one fluid gesture. In addition to serving as a vertical extension of the Southbank Boulevard, the spine also acts as the key organisational element of the building, housing a variety of amenities and linking all of the towers’ programs.

The podium and its rooftop park are reserved for public use. The podium contains a marketplace for both visitors and residents, retail and entertainment spaces with their own balconies and terraces, and a BMW experience centre. Stairs and platforms lead visitors from street level, through the retail and entertainment programming, to a public garden at the top of the podium.

The scheme has also been designed as a cultural platform for the Southbank Arts Precinct. “As Melbourne is the cultural capital of Australia, our design proposal for Southbank by Beulah will enhance this profile and give the city a new place in which its art and culture can be displayed for the world to see,” the architects explained. “The various podium terraces offer platforms for temporary performance art, sculptures, light installations and other exhibitions.”

Conceived as a vertical urban landscape, the tower’s lower storey and mid-storey levels are draped in smaller scale shrub planting, while towards the upper levels, tree planting is introduced within winter gardens. Finally, the ‘gardens of the future’ are situated at the top of the residential tower. The plants absorb noise and air pollution, while tall eucalyptus trees facilitate light. Floors textured with forest ferns provide a cool atmosphere, even on hot summer days.

Above the podium, the tower is primarily made up of offices, hotel rooms and residences. Office spaces are designed to vary from floor to floor in order to offer flexibility of use. Here, open balconies and gardens provide meeting points for collaboration and socialising. Meanwhile, the hotel rooms and residences enjoy access to the private, semi-public or public outdoor green spaces that run from street level to the top of the towers.

The competition’s winning design will be announced on August 8, 2018.