After a six-month global search, Beulah International has announced UNStudio and Cox Architecture’s Green Spine as the winning design for the Southbank by Beulah competition.
UNStudio and Cox beat out five other designs from high-profile teams including Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) with Fender Katsalidis Architects, Coop Himmelb(l)au with Architectus, MAD Architects with Elenberg Fraser, MVRDV with Woods Bagot and Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) with Conrad Gargett.
According to the winning team, Green Spine will comprise of two towers both with a twisting geometry of glass façade and terracing.
Conceived as a conceptual extension of the Southbank Boulevard, Green Spine will provide a pedestrian connection at street level through a series of stairs and stepped terraces, leading visitors up along the retail and entertainment precinct to the garden.
From thereon, the spine twists into a series of outdoor spaces and green devices along the façades of the two towers, culminating at the top of the residential tower as the Future Garden.
The residential tower will reach 356.20m high, crowned by the Future Botanic Garden, a publicly accessible garden in the sky. The hotel and office tower will reach 252.20m high.
Green Spine will include residential, office, hotel, an entertainment facility, BMW experience centre, childcare facility, school, retail and food precinct complete with a food hall, cinema, library and interactive spaces.
Beulah International director Adelene Teh says Green Spine showed work by a strong, multidisciplinary collaborative team, and is a bold, yet thoroughly considered approach to creating a context-driven landmark as an addition to Melbourne’s skyline.
“At the macro scale, the two-tower silhouettes with twisting forms provide a new, site-responsive and elegant visual beacon in the precinct,” adds Teh.
“In its details, the scheme displays a strong intent for well-considered public and private amenity, and at street level, the proposal displays qualities that will truly transform the public realm by eroding the hard edges that are prevalent in Southbank.”
“We are truly delighted that our design has been selected as the winning proposal for this very exciting project,” says UNStudio co-founder and principal architect Ben van Berkel.
“We worked with a fantastic team of cultural placemakers, sustainability consultants, landscape designers, artists and engineers to achieve a fully integrated design.”
“All we can do now is say a big thank you for the trust placed in us and we will do our utmost to contribute to a healthier and future-proof Southbank and wider Melbourne with our Green Spine,” adds UNStudio co-founder Caroline Bos.
