9803 - Elenberg Fraser

01
9803
PROJECT TYPE
MULti-residential, interiors
PROJECT ADDRESS
620 Collins Street,
melbourne, victoria
australia
PROJECT TEAM
Client: Pan Urban
Council: melbourne City Council
Elenberg Fraser: Callum Fraser, Zahava Elenberg,
Dean Boothroyd, Cassian Lau, Megan Hounslow
Documentation: DesignInc
Land Surveyor: Reeds Consulting Pty Ltd
Structural Engineer: Bonacci Group Pty Ltd
Civil Engineer: Bonacci Group Pty Ltd
Services Engineer:
MacCormack Associates Consultants Pty Ltd
Acoustic Engineer: Roy Harding & Associates Pty Ltd
Fire Engineer: ARUP Fire
Artist: Stephen Bram
time – DESIGN / DOCUMENTATION: 12 months
Time – CONSTRUCTION: 24 months
Project cost: AUD $90m
GROSS FLOOR AREA: 26.280sqm
liberty tower
The Western fringe of Melbourne’s CBD was a
different place in the 90s. Colloquially known
as the ‘Gdansk’ end, in answer to the designer
boulevard of the East End’s ‘Paris’ end, this was
before Docklands, before Southern Cross Station:
it was the CBD’s gritty underbelly. The sheer
aluminium wall of Elenberg Fraser’s Liberty
Tower became the Western fortress wall of
the city, discretely defining the CBD as its own
city-state.
This wall is a silver sheet that has been
hammered until it folds and bends through
its balustrades and supports. Appearing
poised to slip off the building’s angled façade,
the perforated aluminium shows the angst
and distress of the tower and its immediate
environment; the building in collapse.
A study tour to Japan focusing on Isogawa’s
work led to an interest in the Japanese obsession
with industrial detailing, seen in the unexpected
delicacy of the mesh screens. This permeable
quality enables the screens, which extend
above and below the slab edges protecting
the building from the hard, Western sun,
to also be transmissive – the opaque walls
become transparent when backlit from the
apartments inside.
An off-form concrete building, Liberty is
materiality in its purest form – the North face
slab is extended to show the raw, unfinished
concrete resplendent with plywood markings
and nail holes. The ‘Big L’ shape of the tower’s
profile can be taken literally, but it also enables
the structure – two towers wrapped around
a lift core – one silver and white, one charcoal
and green.
The dulled silver of Liberty’s exteriors is
polished and reflected through the mirrored
lobby interiors. Inverting the Victorian fear
of the void, or great unknown – horror vacui –
the design focuses solely on what is not there –
as you enter you’re suspended in infinite space
created by the mirror ring. Like the television
show that defined the era it was built in, Liberty’s
lobby makes nothing out of something – the
only object in the interiors is a fluorescent light
installation by Stephen Bram.
As Elenberg Fraser’s first CBD tower, it is fitting
that the adolescent themes of becoming through
identity, destruction and discovery, are contained
within Liberty. It is tough and raw, borne
of the harsh Western environment it inhabits –
its bullet-ridden screen stands in resolute
defiance to the postmodernist movement.
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Liberty Tower
MATERIALS, FINISHES, PRODUCTS
PHOTOGRAPHER CONTACT DETAILS
STRUCTURE
Walls: Hebel power panel
Roof: concrete
Windows: double glazed with custom aluminium frame
Other: natural anodised perforated aluminium balustrades
Note: All images are provided for information purposes
only and remain the copyright of the photographer.
Please contact the photographer directly for all
publishing requests.
FINISHES
Floor finishes: carpet, basalt, ceramic tiles, concrete, latisonic.
Wall linings: plaster board, mirror finish stainless steel,
silver mirror
Ceiling linings: plaster board
Window treatment: silver aluminium venetian blinds
FIXTURES
Plant and equipment: central plant, heating and cooling
Sanitary ware: Duravit
Joinery: linished stainless steel, thassos marble, melteca,
glass, mirror, emperite paint finish
Hardware: Custom designed
Wall insulation: 200mm reinforced concrete
Ceiling insulation: 200mm reinforced concrete
Other: Kludi and Vola tapware
Feature lights (in apartments): by Ism Objects
Lobby light: Delta Neon
Peter Bennetts
telephone +61 (0) 412 568 181
www.peterbennetts.com
pb@peterbennetts.com
Tony Miller
Archiphoto Pty Ltd
8/26 Blenheim Street
Balaclava VIC 3183
Telephone +61 0412 535 575
arcphoto@ihug.com.au
Peter Clarke
Latitude Group
9 Hillingdon Place, Prahran
VICTORIA, 3181
telephone + 61 (0) 412 057 383
peter@latitudephoto.com.au
IMAGES
01. 9803_070924_TM_12 © tony miller
02. 9803_090804_pc_01 © peter clarke
03. 9803_090804_pc_03 © peter clarke
04. 9803_070327_pB_01 © peter bennetts
05. 9803_070924_TM_10 © tony miller
06. 9803_090804_pc_05 © peter clarke
07. 9803_090804_pc_02 © peter clarke
08. 9803_070327_pB_04 © peter bennetts
contact
Melbourne
Level 3, 160 Queen Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000
Australia
Telephone +61 3 9600 2260
Facsimile +61 3 9600 2266
Sydney
Telephone +61 2 9600 8455
hanoi
Villa D-25, The Manor My Dinh
Me Tri Ward Tu Liem District Hanoi
Vietnam
Telephone +84 4 3787 8401
Facsimile +84 4 3795 9764
email mail@elenbergfraser.com
www.elenbergfraser.com