new spaces 10 EN

16 Projects Australians don’t really like apartments. For over 200 years, the immigrants coming to this sparsely populated continent in the Southern Pacifi c have dreamed the “quarter-acre dream” — having a freestanding home of their own on about 1,000 square metres of land. Thanks to this house-proud mentality, Australian cities are quite sprawling. Outside the historic city centres, they consist of gigantic anonymous residential areas dominated by the conventions of suburbia. In Sydney, for example, the population density is only about 2,000 inhabitants per square kilometre — in Berlin that fi gure is 3,870, and in London it’s 4,800. But when the construction project “The Garden House” in the centre of Melbourne went on the market in September 2009, the living units were sold within three weeks on the basis of the plans alone. All of the buyers were locals, despite the fact that the 46 apartments and three townhouses are, unusually for Australia, compactly stacked together on fi ve fl oors on foundations measuring just 1,750 square metres. How could this be? This success is due to 710 steps. That’s the number of steps the residents must take in order to get from the Garden Individuality rules There are 26 diff erent ground plans for the apartments. The built-in cupboards are of course customised, and the basic appliances in the kitchens always come from Gaggenau. PHOTOGRAPHY: TREVOR MEIN House in Rathdowne Street to the historic Princess Theatre in the city centre to see the latest play. It takes only 230 steps to get to the famous coff eehouses and wine bars in the narrow lanes winding between Melbourne’s main streets. And 85 steps will take them to the Royal Exhibition Building, which was built in 1880. Apart from the Sydney Opera, this is Australia’s only building designated as a UN World Heritage Site. It is situated in Carlton Gardens, a park laid out in traditional British style, right across from the new apartment complex. In other words, the Garden House is located in a green oasis — and within walking distance of the centre of this city of four million. As one might expect, this luxurious complex off ers spectacular views. Thanks to the gigantic panorama windows — a central idea of the Woods Bagot architecture fi rm — and the layout created by the interior designer Paul Hecker, residents will be able to see the neighbouring Royal Exhibition Building even while they’re cooking. Because the architecture considers the stove and the sofa equally important, the dining and living areas fl ow together seamlessly. Moreover, in many apartments this living space is extended by a terrace or a courtyard garden. Sliding glass doors make it possible to bring the indoors outdoors and vice versa. Residents can cook, live and dine with a view of the park and its jewel of colonial architecture. “The kitchen is the social and communication centre of a home, and the architecture has to refl ect that,” says Hecker. This unity of cooking and living, indoors and outdoors, is emphasised by the light-coloured tundra-green limestone fl ooring throughout, which connects all the spaces and functions. The kitchen appliances in all 49 units of the Garden House come from Gaggenau. “Australians love German industrial design,” says Hecker, who heads the 18-person Melbournebased design company Hecker & Guthrie. “We’re crazy about German brands. Everything we’ve used in the Garden House is absolutely top-quality, and when it comes to kitchens, Gaggenau is simply the best.” Hecker believes that the built-in gas cook-

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