Wellington Street Apartments, St Kilda

Wellington Street is an apartment complex designed for Frank Pty. Set in an infill site on a commercial strip in St. Kilda, the multi use development on Wellington Street is built as a live/work model from another era. The site consists of four working studios on the ground level with independent three storey dwellings above.

The housing component needed to be disassociated with the noise and traffic of the commercial strip and the freeway, whilst capitalising on the views of the city and sky afforded by the elevated position of the land. A central lightwell scheme was developed where direct access was given to houses on one side of the courtyard, whilst the other units delivered light to the lightwell by transmitting external light through obscure glass blocks back into the courtyard, creating a secondary dimension and depth of field. On the rooftop there is a suspended pool overlooking city views.

The façade is setback from the street providing a private planted garden protected by a high fence. Along the front, the latin phrase “vertus per simplicitus”, meaning “virtue through simplicity”, is cast into the concrete to give the building an individual identity.

The concrete super structure was given particular care during construction and was used as a finished product in many aspects of the interior and exterior detailing. White in-situ concrete was contrasted with a long roughcast brick chosen for the project. The building received an award from the City of Port Philip Council for Best Multi-story Housing.