SUNLAND ADDS TOUCH OF DUBAI TO BRISBANE

SUNLAND Group is bringing a touch of Dubai to the banks of the Brisbane River with its $420 million redevelopment of the old ABC television and radio studios at Toowong.

The Brisbane-based company, developer of the Q1 and Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast, has just lodged its development application for the site with the Brisbane City Council.

The triple-tower project, designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Dame Zaha Hadid, features what Sunland describes as “sculptural” residential towers comprising 486 apartments and eight riverfront villas and 7300sqm of landscaped public parklands on the 1.5ha site.

Heritage-listed Middenbury house, built in the 1860s, will become a key feature of the parkland precinct which Sunland says will breathe new life into the long-dormant riverfront site.

“Our vision is to create a vibrant urban village which sensitively activates its urban and riverfront context through compelling architecture and landscape design,” says Sunland managing director Sahba Abedian.

“Importantly, it is a vision that opens up the site to the broader community through the creation of expansive public parklands, a riverside viewing platform and the transformation of Middenbury into a meaningful public space.”

Abedian says each of the three residential towers will feature a unique multi-layer façade design comprising a curtain wall glazing, overlayed with a quilted diamond pattern made from glass reinforced concrete.

“The result is an organic, sculptural design reminiscent of a flower in bloom,” he says. “The smoothness and elegance of the design is unlike anything Brisbane – or Australia – has ever seen.”

Sunland is renowned for taking a bold approach to building design, having worked on a number of stunning projects in Dubai as well as the Gold Coast over the past decade.

Hadid, founder of Zaha Hadid Architects, says the tapered design was aimed at minimizing the footprint of the three towers to open up the riverfront to the public and create “a vibrant civic space for Toowong”.

The proposed project, to be named Grace on Coronation, is the second high rise planned for Brisbane by Sunland with construction under way on the Abian tower in the CBD overlooking the Botanic Gardens.

Sunland has pre-sold more than 80 per cent of the apartments in the 40-level luxury tower, making it the fastest selling residential high rise in the first quarter of this financial year.

Demolition of the ABC studios is scheduled to start this month, but Abedian says Sunland expects to undertake community consultation for the Toowong project as part of the DA process.