Located in the heart of Melbourne’s primary arts and entertainment precinct, Beulah Propeller City will be a recognisable architectural landmark that redefines the residential, commercial, retail and public open-space environments of Melbourne. This new building, with its dramatic silhouette, will reflect the vitality and creativity of the city, becoming a destination for local, national and international visitors. Our vision for Beulah Propeller City is the creation of a vertical city composed of multiple functions intertwined in a fluid gesture of vertically linked public spaces.
The “Gestalt” of the structural, material and functional components of the design will create a memorable and unmistakable icon in the city-scape. Beulah Propeller City will represent a new form of urban development for Melbourne; the lively, mixed-use, vertical city. We approached the design of the building form as an artist would a sculpture. The maximum possible building envelope was the starting block; the client’s brief, planning regulations, the existing urban form, climate and views to and from site were considerations which prompted the specific carves to reveal the dynamic urban figure within.
Image © Coop Himmelb(l)au
This hybrid vertical city creates both relationships and fields of tension with the surrounding urban structure; mediating and connecting with the urban fabric. The building design creates different districts to suit the principal functions. The interfaces between these areas promote and facilitate connections and sharing. This creates readability and the possibility of identification. The concept of “public benefits”, which in the traditional sense generates the creation of a multifunctional building, is further developed and expanded: we create real public spaces within a multifunctional structure.
Within the interstices of the main building elements free spaces are created: atria, terraces, community facilities and amenity spaces such as recreational and public areas for leisure, pleasure and circulation. These free spaces provide orientation for the people who use and live in the building. This approach circumvents the isolation that frequently occurs with disconnected levels. The result of this approach is a unified composition of identifiable building elements comprising low, mid and high-rise volumes created by dividing the program of the building into its four main functional parts; public podium, office, hotel and apartment tower.
Image © Coop Himmelb(l)au
Through the design of the external primary structure, the internal construction elements are optimised and reduced thereby enabling maximum flexibility for current uses as well as eventual adaptability in the future. This structure for future adaptability is a primary expression of the architectural design. Formal decomposition articulating the various programmatic elements defines the new high-rise typology and ultimately serves to make each functional element feel more intimate.
Program
Commercial offices in Southbank with a large flexible floor plate are an in-demand and marketable product; Hotels of a high quality standard are ideally positioned in Southbank to cater for Melbourne’s growth in tourism; Apartments in Melbourne are well supplied, however projects of a distinctive design can cater to the market segment seeking a unique high quality product; Multi-level retail has been successful in Asian cities. This form of integrated multi-level retail would be a new and unique model that would set a benchmark in Melbourne and Australia. Source by Coop Himmelb(l)au.
Image © Coop Himmelb(l)au
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Architect: Coop Himmelb(l)au
- Principal in Charge: Wolf D. Prix
- Project Partners: Markus Prossnigg
- Design Architect: Alexander Ott
- Project Architects: Benjamin Schmidt
- Project Team Vienna: Biernat Paul, Bolojan Daniel, Popovic Vasja, Shir Katz, Konstantinos Papachristopoulos, Coskun Irem, Feil Marco, Pu Yuan, Stievenard Valentin, Rancke Jan, La Chi Nam, Parleva Denitsa
- Local Partner: Architectus
- Structural Engineering: B+G Ingenieure, Bollinger und Grohmann GmbH
- Urban Planning: Ethos Urban
- Engineering/Structural Design/MEP: ARUP
- Energy Design: Brian Cody
- Placemaking: Village Well
- Landscape: TCL
- Retail: Benoy
- Cultural Consultant: Timmah Ball
- Urban Art: UAP
- Wayfinding: Büro North
- Cost Management: Rider Levett Bucknall
- Building Surveyor: du Chateau Chun
- Client: Beulah International
- Images: K18, Courtesy of Coop Himmelb(l)au
Image © Coop Himmelb(l)au 
Image © Coop Himmelb(l)au 
Image © Coop Himmelb(l)au Image © Coop Himmelb(l)au Image © Coop Himmelb(l)au 
Image © Coop Himmelb(l)au 
Image © Coop Himmelb(l)au 
Model
