How Elenberg Fraser designed the St Boulevard residences
Nestled in the centre of St Kilda Road’s famous tree-lined boulevard lies St.Boulevard, a highly sought-after collection of residences surrounded by lush tropical landscapes and resort-style amenities that will act as a hidden haven for its residents.
Designed by world-renowned architects Elenberg Fraser and Melbourne-based developer The Shakespeare Group, the residential development finds its inspiration from garden cities around the globe to deliver a truly inspired living experience.
Comprising three individually crafted buildings, St. Boulevard’s expansive central botanic garden is the star of the show, complete with a 25-metre lagoon-shaped pool, surrounded by tropical flora and fauna, sunken lounges, barbecue areas and poolside pavilions.
18 amenity areas in total will find a home at St Boulevard, including a children’s play area, state-of-the-art gym, health club, spa, private theatre, reading room, games room and karaoke pod.
Elenberg Fraser Director Callum Fraser says the building is designed to give residents all the convenience that inner-city living provides with the peace and luxury of a hotel environment.
“It’s more than a hotel and more than an apartment building,” said Fraser.
“It’s in every way a new form of inhabitation which we’re calling an urban resort. You get to live and have all the great facilities of a hotel, but you also get to live in a distinctly residential environment.”
Elenberg Fraser developed a masterplan for the site as well as the design for the three buildings that sit on it. The structures are raised, attached to the ground at strategic points, permitting a wild, native landscape to run riot across the site, growing in and around the buildings.
A straight, front façade contrasts with stepped down volumes to the back carving out a scalloped curve.
They say the façade treatments are a nod to Paris’ Bibliothèque Nationale, with a silvery glass shell with semi-reflective qualities, activated by the changing positions of the thin timber screens fitted to the interior of each apartment.
“These screens, as well as a cutting edge window technology, enable complete customisation according to light, shade, ventilation and privacy needs.”
A first for Australia and Elenberg Fraser, the parallel awning means windows pop out, opening up the front edge of apartments adding extra sunlight and breezes as well as texture from the exterior, with residents able to open the screens to create a winter garden, or close the screens to retreat into the home.
Inside, the apartments offer built-in joinery and dedicated display spaces to allow for everyone’s lifestyle to shine through.
Study and work nooks have integrated charging stations, while the sleeping areas are designed as rejuvenating spaces, with spa-like ensuites and cocoon-like bedrooms.
The kitchens are conceived as the heart of the homes, with a pale cinnamon grey stone bench the focal point for the space.
Each building has been given an identity through a signature tree: Southern Magnolia, Chinese Pistachio or Gingko Biloba.
“The design references the significance of trees as ancient shelter while bridging nature and artifice and nourishing a form of sensory architecture where residents are surrounded by the sights and smells of these diverse environments.”
“The foliage, bark and flowers of these species direct the palette, textures and material selections in each lobby, with motifs and finishes translated into more micro details in the apartment interiors.”
“Thus, you’ll see the fanned shape of the Gingko Biloba leaf in ceiling and wall detail in the entry, as well as handles in apartments. Natural materials – from leather, stone and timber – deliver a raw tactility in tune with this contemporary interpretation of primitive life.”
A limited number of two-bedroom apartments can still be snapped up in St Boulevard, with prices beginning from $690,000.
