Site One, Melbourne, Bourke Street Building, Architect, Project, Photos, Design

Site One Melbourne : Docklands Building

Australian Docklands Building design by Elenberg Fraser architects

14 Jan 2009

Site One

Location: 757 Bourke Street, Docklands, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Date built: 2007
Design: Elenberg Fraser

Mixed-use Residential, Commercial and Retail
Client: Pan Urban

photos © Tony Miller

Melbourne Docklands Building

Architect’s Statement
Built on a highly visible corner site in Melbourne’s Docklands, Site One is a six level commercial building mixing commercial office tenancies, flexible and fully serviced business facilities, and sohos (small office home office) that provide work/ live opportunities.

Completing the Base
The building anchors its edges to Bourke Stand Stadium Drive, stepping back across the frontage to align at the top with the Watergate Towers. This completes the geometry of the block, and provides a commercial supplement to the residential program of the adjacent Watergate.

Urban landscape oasis The main building entry is from Stadium Drive via an open landscaped forecourt, which runs deep into the building via the main lobby. The forecourt is accessed across tenancies on two of its edges and the lobby along its
internal face. The courtyard is the focus of the stepping roof form and the terraces. The network of stainless cables that wrap in and over the building, form a rich multi-levelled landscape and recreational space.

Network of movement referencing the historical Site One is held back from the western boundary of the site to create an arcade space which spans the site. The incorporation of this connection establishes a historically Melbourne sense of the movement network of arcades, laneways and alleys.

This also encourages movement across the site from Stadium Drive to Bourke St and the Docklands waterfront beyond. The north-south arcade links into the main lobby to form a network of vertical voids running across the site, collecting the circulation and entries to the commercial suites. In addition this void network forms fresh air ‘ducts’ across the site for ventilation, giving the arcade a sense of both the internal and the external.

photos © Tony Miller

The Program
Site One comprises 14 retail tenancies to the ground floor, 24 serviced office suites, 29 strata offices and 73 sohos to the upper levels. Facilities within the building at ground level add retail and café functions to the wider precinct, enabling surrounding building occupants to use, enjoy and move through the site on a daily basis and add to the public experience of the site.

The Business Club is located within level 1 and comprises integrated business facilities such as secretarial and printing services, meeting and board room facilities and informal and presentation lounges. The sohos are fully wired for high bandwidth cabling, and incorporate wi-fi LAN connections.

Up-to-date databased website services are also provided with R&D and technical support for all businesses within Site One. The project brings integrated ESD initiatives to the small commercial tenancy.

Glazed arcades and full-height voids are utilised as fresh air, supply and exhaust ‘ducts’ to the individual office shells. This also provides natural ventilation to public areas, ensuring temperature comfort levels are maintained in all public and private spaces.

The building façade incorporates operable sections of glazing to aid passive ventilation. Site One presents a flexible commercial model to the Docklands precinct, referencing a finer grain of urban experience that is historically very Melbourne, through an iconic building that is ‘in and of’ its site.

Site One Melbourne – Building Information

Project Team: Callum Fraser, Karl Engstrom, Cassian Lau, John Hoogwerf, Eugenia Lai, David Harrap, Brad Hooker
Time – Design/Documentation: 6 Months
Time – Construction: 20 Months
Project Cost: $40m

Site One Melbourne – Consultants
Architecture: Elenberg Fraser
Project Management: Baracon
Civil Engineering: Reeds Consulting
Structural Engineering: Robert Bird & Partners
Services Engineering: Norman Disney & Young
Building Surveyor: Garden Group
Fire Engineer: Umow Lai & Associates
Acoustic Engineering: Marshall Day
Wind Engineering: Mel Consultants
Environmental Engineering: ERM
Quantity Surveyors: Slattery Australia
Land Surveyor: Reeds Australia
Geotechnical Engineering: Golders Associates

Site One Melbourne – information / images from Elenberg Fraser 140109

Elenberg Fraser

Location: 757 Bourke Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia