The Victorian government has given the nod to a vast $750 million two-tower project at 350 Queen Street, designed by Melbourne architectural practice Fender Katsalidis.
A collaboration with Cox Architecture, the Queens Place development near the Queen Victoria Markets will comprise 1,600 apartments and 8,000 square metres of office and retail space.
State planning minister Richard Wynne, who approved the plan on 12 March, said the project was “well-designed” and necessary to help meet Melbourne’s growing population.
“This is quite unique for the central city of Melbourne and it speaks to the change in demographics,” he said.
“No longer do we have couples or downsizers wanting to live in apartments in the CBD, we actually have families who want to live in apartments in the CBD and Docklands as well.”
Queens Place will be about 30 metres shorter than the city’s current tallest building, the 297-metre Eureka Tower – Katsalidis’ most famous Melbourne landmark to date – and 50 metres less than the architect’s controversial Australia 108 tower (319 metres) which is already rising in Southbank and set for completion in 2020.
Fender Katsalidis has also recently completed one of the skinniest skyscrapers in Australia, Phoenix on Flinders Street, which has the remarkable aspect ratio of 1:13 at 88 metres tall.
While Katsalidis’ continuing impact on the Melbourne skyline is getting the most attention since the Queens Place approval, the architects say the public domain strategy which underpins the project is their primary concern.
“Rather than treat the public space as the space left over from the development, the design team approached the task from the opposite direction, designing the public realm first, responding to existing conditions, through site connections and solar access and then placed the buildings around this space,” their architectural report reads.
“The design process has given rise to a concept that enriches the ground plane with new connections and an enhanced public realm within the Queen Victoria Market Precinct.”
Along with apartments, the towers will contain four swimming pools, saunas, spas and gyms, a home theatre, communal kitchens, karaoke rooms and a yoga studio.