388 William Street Offices and Hotel, Melbourne Mixed-Use Development, Architecture Project Images

388 William Street Offices and Hotel in Melbourne

2 Feb 2020

388 William Street Melbourne

Architects: Elenberg Fraser

Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

388 William Street Offices Hotel Melboure

The world is in flux. Barriers and boundaries that defined us? Gone. The spaces we inhabit need a dramatic rethink. And at 388 William Street, Elenberg Fraser think th’ve nailed it.

388 William Street Offices Hotel Melboure

For Elenberg Fraser’s new commercial office and 5-star hotel project, the architects called on the spirit of the Roman deity, Janus – the twin-faced god of transitions. Why? Well, this space will be many things to many people. Elenberg Fraser wanted to shatter conventional architectural hierarchy by blurring the boundaries between one space and the next. And that’s what Janus is all about.

388 William Street Offices Hotel Melboure

So, for a start, Elenberg Fraser have created something new. It’s a hybrid the architects are calling a ‘WOTEL’… where work meets hotel. With conventional wisdom abandoned, guests at SO Sofitel are getting more than a place to crash and a mini-bar to raid. Hotel rooms transition into flexible workspaces that encourage collaboration and autonomy. Guests mingle with office workers at the bar, on the dance floor, and at the gym and pool. Facilities are shared with the locals. So for as long as they’re in residence, hotel guests are Melburnians.

388 William Street Offices Hotel Melboure

But you’ll also find Janus in the visual dichotomy of the building’s chimerical design, one mirrored face looking out across Melbourne’s central business hub, while on the opposite, oblique, façade a cascade of greenery tumbles from stepped terraces towards street level.

388 William Street Offices Hotel Melboure

Like Janus, 388 William also has eyes on the past and the future. The anchor for the City of Melbourne’s QV masterplan, this building embodies Melbourne history just as it’s part of its dynamic future. With the Queen Victoria Market on one flank, and the Flagstaff Gardens on the other, Elenberg Fraser integrated the original Deco building that occupied the site – a former cannery where workers once packed rations for WWII troops. The fabric of the heritage building is incorporated into the design – it’s a seamless transition between old and new.

388 William Street Offices Hotel Melboure

Seamless means no barriers. And at 388 William, twin entrances invite public access to a soaring internal atrium, where voyeurism is not a dirty word. Here, there is no hierarchy. Workers levitate to upper levels in glass elevators, looking out as others look in. Ballroom guests watch people come and go, just as they’re watched from above. Silhouetted figures criss-cross the massive glazed skylights punched through the atrium’s roof, peering down at the activity eleven stories beneath their feet.

Elenberg Fraser also embraced the liminal zone between nature and structure. Try to work out where ‘outside’ ends and ‘inside’ begins at 388 William. You can’t. In the building’s atrium, skygardens replicate the forest canopy while in full view across the landscaped terraces are Flagstaff Gardens’ ancient Moreton Bay figs and elm trees. There’s no fear of missing out for the workers seated at their desks; they might as well be seated on the grass with the picnickers outside.

388 William Street Offices Hotel Melboure

The sweet spot for the hotel guests and international businesswomen and men who’ll stay here, and the office workers who’ll see this place as their second home… 388 William is a place where the line between work and play doesn’t exist.
Sure, you’re at work. But it doesn’t really feel like it. Elenberg Fraser think Janus would approve.

388 William Street Offices Hotel Melboure

388 William Street, Melbourne – Building Information

Architect: Elenberg Fraser

Client: Melbourne Institute of Technology Australia
Town Planner: Urbis

Project size: 52913 sqm
Site size: 3913 sqm
Completion date: 2020

388 William Street Offices Hotel Melboure

Hotels

Images: Pointilism

388 William Street Offices and Hotel in Melbourne images / information received 020220

Elenberg Fraser Architects

Location: CBD, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Melbourne Hotels

Melbourne Hotel Building Designs – selection:

Hyatt Place Melbourne Caribbean Park, Scoresby
Architecture: Peter Ryan Architects
Hyatt Place Caribbean Park Scoresby Victoria
photos : Alex Reinders and John Gollings
Hyatt Place Caribbean Park, Scoresby

Hobsons Bay Hotel, Williamstown, Victoria, Australia
Design: Fiona Drago Architect
Hobsons Bay Hotel  Williamstown
photo : Rebeccan Newman
Hobsons Bay Hotel, Williamstown

Coppersmith Hotel
Design: HASSELL architects
Coppersmith Hotel in Melbourne
photos by James Morgan / Dianna Snape
Coppersmith Hotel Melbourne

The Prahran Hotel, Windsor, Victoria, Australia
Design: Techne Architects
The Prahran Hotel Australia
photo : Peter Clarke Photography
Prahran Hotel

Crown Metropol
Design: Bates Smart
Crown Metropol Hotel

Architecture in Melbourne

Contemporary Melbourne Architecture

New Melbourne Buildings : current, chronological list

Melbourne Architecture Tours by e-architect

Melbourne Architecture News

Uno Tower, A’Beckett St
Design: Elenberg Fraser
Uno Tower Melbourne
images : Binyan Studios, Pointilism and Lucernal
Uno Tower Melbourne

Abode318 Apartments
Design: Elenberg Fraser
Abode318 Apartments building
photo : Peter Clarke
Abode318 Apartments

VicRoads Office Building, Sunshine
Architects: Gray Puksand
VicRoads Office Building Melbourne
photo © Tatjana Plitt
VicRoads Office Building

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