Tall & Urban News

Contreras Earl Architecture has designed a new tower along Broadbeach in Gold Coast, Australia. Dubbed "Sand," the project is designed to be a unique landmark for the suburb, drawing from the beachside and urban context. The mid-rise development includes a total of 15 boutique apartments in the 18-story tower, with each floor designed as its own unit.

The tower was designed so that residents will be able to experience sunlight and views from multiple aspects, including the Pacific Ocean. Inside, the apartments' outdoor spaces are integrated with the internal spaces for cross ventilation throughout all internal areas. The allocation of multiple balconies in each apartment supports flexible living patterns and enables semi-outdoor living all-year-round in the sub-tropical climate. The location of the core and stairs towards the west façade work to mitigate the western sun exposure and to maximize the amount of open space available.

The shape and form design aimed to protect it from unfavorable conditions such as the western sun and overlooking neighboring buildings while embracing the summer breezes, beach views, and the Gold Coast skyline. The spiral morphology of certain seashell species and their growth pattern inspired the continuous shape of the sunshade device that starts at the ground floor and culminates at the roof level. Through an extension of the tower floor slabs, a continuous shading device creates an articulation of all four façade elevations. The continuous curvilinear shading device takes on a fluid spiral movement, and in addition to providing climatic control, reduces heat loads and allows for optimized internal light penetration.

For more on this story, go to ArchDaily.