Overview of the masterplan for a commercial site of over 5 hectares in Richmond, Melbourne
The siting of the proposed buildings and their orientation to adjoining open space are guided by several design principles: to present an animated public face to Swan Street, to foster a communal heart within the development and to provide a prominent corporate address for GE, the long-term lessee. The social dimensions of work are now recognised as crucial to the economic outcomes of the workplace. Health, recreational, and retail facilities at the workplace contribute to a balance of life and work.
At 572-576 Swan Street facilities such as these are integral to the considered site plan that draws life and work together. The site is organised about a north-south arrival plaza at the head of the existing entry roadway from Swan Street. Rather than looking inward and turning its back to the street, this development presents two retail buildings to Swan Street. Buildings 4 and 6, sited either side of the entry driveway, mark the gateway to the site.
Addressing the street are a café and convenience store respectively. Adjacent to the café are a juice bar and a sushi bar; on the floor above is a gymnasium. By their nature these uses will present a highly visible public face of human activity and interaction.
Nearby, to the south, is Building 5, housing a sandwich bar and hairdresser, which completes the triangle centred about the Village Centre - the communal heart of the office park. Thoughtful design together with this particular mix of uses will foster for an emerging sense of place and work place culture.
To the east of this is Building 7, which will enclose the eastern edge of the Plaza. A retail tenancy addresses the Plaza resulting in pedestrian activity and concealing the carpark behind. Similarly a ground-level crèche on the north-east corner presents a face of human activity to Eastern Drive, concealing the carpark behind.
