Tapestry
On a deep, narrow (40m deep x 10m wide) site, Tapestry holds its own amid a wide variety of building types and periods – and it achieves this by directly addressing the myriad elements within its surroundings. Tapestry is located in Melbourne’s Collingwood, a former highly industrialised suburb with still-visible working-class roots now set among numerous residential developments.
Tapestry demonstrates how design can gentrify a suburb gracefully. Every aspect of this project has been conceived as part of a larger whole, from the multi-faceted building designed to fit within its diverse industrial-urban environment right down to the fine details, such as the sculptural pipe-like exhaust fan above the kitchen stove tops, a subtle reference to the factory chimneys still evident in and around Collingwood.
The building comprises three volumes set at varying depths, creating an effect reminiscent of stacked building blocks. The changing form of the facade reflects the varying heights, shapes and materials used in the surrounding buildings. Tapestry really does stitch itself neatly into its place.
The building’s diverse facades have been united by a single concrete element that wraps right around the building. It’s a singular gesture that consolidates Tapestry’s many parts, and is battened to the lower level.
Tapestry’s upper-level penthouse is set well back from the street, with deep balconies along the street frontage. The building’s middle section has smaller balconies with moveable metal screens that open and close to let in light and warmth, or to create a private outdoor area as required. And the ground, lobby area is again set back from the street, allowing room for a jutting block-like letterbox that is at once utilitarian and sculptural.
