Delivered in two stages, the project balances bold contemporary architecture with a deep respect for the site’s unique Bayside location and surrounding urban fabric.

The development replaces a vacant brownfield site with a collection of 24 townhouses and 11 apartments across four distinct buildings, nestled within an extensively planted native garden.

Tightly constrained on three sides by existing apartments, post-war residences, train lines, and the Brighton Beach Hotel and car park, the site required a careful and considered masterplan. The design maximises westward views towards Green Point Park, the beach, and Port Phillip Bay.

Rather than filling the site, a series of sculptural pavilions have been thoughtfully composed and positioned within a new coastal garden.

More than half of the site has been landscaped, creating a lush green spine that links the rear townhouses with the two distinctive apartment buildings at the front. This central axis also aligns with the Green Point Cenotaph memorial.

The townhouses stretch along a tree-lined shared accessway, encouraging neighbourly interaction and play. Their undulating facades establish a finer-grain residential streetscape through softly fluted timber screens and overhanging terraces, which carefully manage views and privacy.

This transitions seamlessly into the larger sculptural apartment buildings as the streetscape blends into the coastal garden setting.

Across the masterplan, enduring and robust materials, such as timber, stucco-rendered masonry, and zinc, create warmth, texture, and durability. Combined with the buildings’ carefully composed forms, these materials allow the development to harmonise with the coastal context while giving each pavilion its own identity.

Viewed from the beach, the apartment buildings follow the existing urban grain, stepping down in height from north to south to reduce bulk and respect the beachfront character of low-rise dwellings.

Within the apartments, the landscaped green spine enables layouts with multiple aspects to both the beach and garden, promoting cross-ventilation and passive cooling.

Interiors are finely crafted and meticulously detailed, featuring natural materials and bespoke design elements such as cast bronze door handles, joinery, and bathroom fittings.

A fabric-first approach ensures all external walls achieve extremely high levels of insulation. A combination of fully insulated double-stud walls and rendered masonry provides additional thermal mass to northern elevations.

High-performance, energy-efficient glazing with thermally broken frames allows the apartment buildings to achieve an outstanding average rating of 7.8 stars (with many individual apartments exceeding 8.5 stars).

Exceptional acoustic separation has also been achieved throughout the project, while irrigation for the gardens is supplied by harvested rainwater collected on site.

Esplanade Brighton offers an exemplary response to its urban, coastal, and residential context, blending architectural innovation with sensitivity to create a cohesive, enduring, and vibrant community.

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