Melbourne’s Minister for Planning Matthew Guy has approved the city’s tallest skinny tower, which will span a mere 12 metres wide at its narrowest point.

Designed by Melbourne firm BKK (Black Kosloff Knott), the 73-storey tower will be located on 54-56 Clarke Street near the Crown casino in Southbank – an area already experiencing a ‘skyscraper boom’.

Unlike the typical skinny ‘pencil towers’, the proposed design for this building will display a slender, twisting flower stem design.

The slight twist is expected to encourage natural light within the building.

Standing at 230 metres, the building will house 256 apartments, along with an elevated spa, sauna, pool deck, and a “highly activated” ground level containing shops and cafes.

On site power generation, sky gardens and innovative façade technology will contribute to the project’s sustainability features.

According to Guy, the proposed thin tower is a sign of things to come as Melbourne strives to accommodate a rapidly growing population.

“54 Clarke Street has strong architectural features to ensure it embodies a slender, sophisticated style all the way from a ‘webbed’ foundation at ground level,” he said.

“Yes, it’s skinny; yes it’s different, but we will have to do business differently in the next 20 years to how we have done it in the past, and this is a perfect example.”

The approval of the building follows an earlier application by the project’s proponents that was approved by the Minister in February 2013, and subsequently taken to VCAT by the City of Melbourne.

Following in the footsteps of the Phoenix Building at 108 Flinders Street by Fender Katsalidis, Melbourne’s first skinny tower, 54 Clarke Street has already been likened to slender towers in major cities, such as New York’s skinny towers One Madison Park and 785 Eighth Street.

Images: b-k-k.com.au

Geraldine Chua

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