Eve was conceived, designed and shaped as a response to Erskineville’s honest and robust materiality, and by a local vernacular architecture.
Eve was conceived, designed and shaped as a response to Erskineville’s honest and robust materiality, and by a local vernacular architecture that features such distinctive architectural details as curved street corners and the fine craftsmanship of nearby railway brick arches. The result is an Erskineville apartment development whose large-scale sculptural curves and sensuous forms speak to the local fabric of the neighbourhood. Eve’s south-west elevation learns from its surroundings while rethinking the street corner, as a sensuous curved wall of white brickwork is punctured by sharply framed balcony slots, forming a dynamic interplay of vertical and horizontal movement. Here too an urban plaza engenders a sense of delight and counterpoint to the long, uniformly orthogonal built forms that line Macdonald Street. At the heart of Eve is a central courtyard garden, as well as a diverse series of communal areas that provide a range of different offerings to suit all occupants. These include a light filled yet intimate central courtyard and rooftop gardens, complete with BBQ’s and seating areas. At the street edge are a series of ‘stoops’, which provide a front door and garden to all of the ground floor apartments. As a case study in how to activate the street and provide an interactive environment for social encounters, Eve represents a landmark development by Fridcorp, and represents the very best that can be achieved through the Sydney Design Excellence process.
YEAR
2015
STATUS
Complete
CLIENT
Fridcorp
COLLABORATORS
Hecker Guthrie
LOCATION
Erskineville, AUS
SCALE
8,000m2
DWELLINGS
200
DISCIPLINE
Multi Residential
EXPERTISE
Architecture
Photographer: Brett Boardman
DKO is a multi-disciplinary, award-winning design practice centred on creating ingenious spaces that are driven by the needs of the user, site opportunities and the dynamic process of translating design intent into built outcomes. Founded in 2000 by Principal Koos de Keijzer, its operations have expanded from Melbourne to studios in Sydney, Perth, Auckland, Ho Chi Minh City, and Brisbane. DKO has remained committed to the same underlying principles since day one. Its multiple teams spread across the Asia-Pacific region are solidly united behind the same grounded and humble approach taken to each project, big or small.
Keeping minds open to any possibility, DKO always focuses on finding the best idea, regardless of where it came from. By encouraging the personal growth of each individual within the organisation, DKO plans to become a globally oriented entity, consistently forging ahead in both business and creative objectives. DKO embraces the role of architecture in shaping a more sustainable future. As a practice, it never loses sight of the most fundamental quality that connects all great design – people. Through human understanding and nurture, DKO seeks to continually maximise its potential and deliver architecture at its utmost excellence.