288 Johnston Street

CLIENT | K7 Developments

TYPE | ARchitecture, Interior Design, Documentation

SECTOR | MIXED USE, REsidential, RETAIL

STATUS | DESIGN development

LOCATION | Abbotsford, VIC

HEIGHT | 34m, 11 Storeys

SCALE | GFA 1,160 sqm, Site 1,212 sqm, 73 apartments

COST | Confidential

Renders | Plus Architecture

A collection of cascading brick volumes

Rounding the corner from Johnston Street in Abbotsford around to Lulie Street within the inner-city suburbs of Melbourne, one thing that strikes you is the painted signage of bygone businesses vying for attention along the vast brick warehouses.

The many incarnations that these resilient vessels held speak volumes. Their adaptability and unpredictability internally, and enduring qualities externally became the hallmark of the locale. Print shops became pie shops, breweries became bagel joints and back again.

This humble masonry infrastructure is where Plus Architecture began to imbue our latest collaboration with K7 Developments with the essence of Abbotsford.

A collection of brick volumes cascade from the heritage-listed dwellings adjacent, in alternating shades of the local brickwork. The brickwork is articulated by frames, the proportions of which transition and evolve to give each volume their own identity, yet linked as variations on a theme. Inside the framing elements, the brick inlay responds to both the opening aperture and position, with a more varied presentation closer to the street that becomes more ordered towards the summit.

Where the volumes setback to allow for sunlight and views, providing a larger set back from the street, the slabs above the balconies have been cut away to expose them to the light, a gesture that emphasises the planar quality of the warehouse typology.

Working closely with Yarra Council throughout a period of an evolving Design Development Overlay, we’ve created 73 new homes with unique amenity for an inner city suburb. With Studley Park, Abbotsford Convent, and Dight Falls all nearby, with Victoria Park Train Station to take you elsewhere, it speaks to a more sustainable lifestyle that bridges between the urbanity of the warehouse and the where else.

A palimpsest of time and place, 288 Johnston St feels familiar but new, it stands out whilst fitting in, and is as unpredictable as it is enduring. It feels like Abbotsford should.