Selwyn Street
Fender Katsalidis was commissioned by Woolworths to design a supermarket and residential development in Elsternwick. The result is a development with two distinct buildings of varying materiality and a facade expression poised above a landscaped podium level.
The podium on Selwyn Street has a height and scale to match the predominant neighbouring form and has been treated with a textured and layered surface to give scale and variety to the ground plane.
The greater context features extensive use of face brickwork. This spans many eras, from the language of the existing fire station to that of Ripponlea.
The supermarket entry component is expressed as a bluestone clad element with deep splayed reveals. This continues the use of masonry elements throughout the podium, with the bluestone providing a contrasting materiality to support the intent of a diverse campus of buildings.
The northern building has been expressed as a series of layered forms to scale the building and to provide a larger grained texture to the facade through the brickwork.
The southern tower form is deliberately expressed as a glassy and crystalline element which is contrasting in both form and materiality to the northern building. The new built form acts as a backdrop to the fire station, with the design strategy adopting a neutral glassy expression to allow the station to stand alone.
The silhouette and independent presence of the fire station at the corner of the site is given new life through the re-use of the building as a residential entry lobby and café space.
