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Following an international design competition, UNStudio, in collaboration with Cox Architecture, have won the bid to design a two-tower supertall project that will soon become Australia's tallest building. Consisting of a 356-metre supertall and a conjoined 252-metre high-rise, Southbank will combine residential, office, hotel, and retail space into one very tall and visually striking project.
Conceptualized as a "Green Spine," the towers will be conjoined via a common, partially open, living wall, which will hug the "inside" walls of each of the structures meeting at ground level in the form of a multi-storey podium.
While the Green Spine will be home to countless trees and other vegetation, the smooth, "exterior" walls of the towers will be clad in a glass curtain wall, to be known as the "Glass Facade."
Viewed in close detail, the Green Spine facade will provide much of the project's aesthetic distinctiveness, the upwardly twisting living wall to be a signature design feature for the development, and for Melbourne as a whole.
Bottoming out at ground level, the Green Spine facade will transition seamlessly into Southbank's multi-storey podium, which will house a mix of retail, restaurants, cafes, and a BMW specialty store.
While the supertall will be made into residences, the shorter tower will be home to a combination of office and hotel space - both to benefit from the shops, restaurants, and other services to be spread throughout the podium. Once complete, the nearly $2 billion (AUD) development by Beulah will be a landmark project for Melbourne, setting the stage for more of its kind to come.
SkyriseCities will be sure to return to this project as progress continues. For more information, check out the associated Database file and Forum thread, and as always, feel free to join the conversation in the comments section below.
