Bates Smart has announced that approval has been received for the future development of 54 La Trobe Street in Melbourne.

With all the energy of Melbourne’s CBD in close proximity, as well as the State Library, Carlton Gardens and several key heritage buildings, 54 La Trobe Street presents a rich oasis for urban life.

The precinct is currently undergoing a transformation to realise its true potential, including recent high-rise development capitalising on the growth driven by major universities and revitalising the ground plane with new laneway connections that expand the CBD northward.

“The architectural design optimises the site and its surrounding context by incorporating stacked vertical forms,” shares the practice.

“This design strategy distinguishes the commercial space in the podium from the hotel and residential use in the tower above.

“The activated ground plane and multiple stepped terraces will enhance pedestrian engagement at street level and provide improved interaction for all building occupants.”

The concept of bundling smaller elements together to make a stronger collective form serves as the design’s primary organising principle, efficiently combining hotel and residential functions in an elegant stack of slender vertical forms which celebrate their individual ascension within an overall unity of form, scale and composition.

In a vertically constrained site surrounded on three sides by tall buildings, Bates Smart’s strategy is to craft a sculptural insertion that establishes a refinement of human-scale detail and the careful orchestration of urban space. A facade of curved corners and shaped masonry piers accentuate the tower’s vertical drive, subtly tapering at the mid-point transition between programs.

The tower comprises hotel rooms in the lower portion, with residential apartments above. Breaks in the massing provide opportunities for relief and green spaces, including a large terrace on the top of the podium for residential and hotel amenities.

The podium touches the ground at the 10-metre frontage of 54 La Trobe Street, which is effectively extended to incorporate the redeveloped façade of 58 La Trobe Street, immediately adjacent to the west, including new store fronts and a roof terrace accessible from the commercial space.

The façade’s shaped piers gently flare at their base to increase solidity, culminating in sculpted monolithic columns which frame the opening to the new arcade and lobbies.

The ground plane exudes the same sense of calm repose as the tower creating an inviting experience for pedestrians, visitors and occupants alike.

The main entrance is punctuated by masonry and glass pods against a warm textural backdrop accentuated by lighting and over sailed by a series of floating canopy forms which recall the tower’s primary plan forms.

A landscape of complementary extruded, tactile forms further softens and enriches this experience by providing tactile elements that welcome interaction throughout the ground plane and stepping terraces.

Bates Smart’s proposal for 54-62 La Trobe Street is as a catalyst for the next phase of this precinct’s growth, setting a new benchmark for architectural quality and urban design by delivering an authentic vertical community for living, visiting and working.

Images: 54 La Trobe Street / Bates Smart

Clémence Carayol

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