I take my hat off to the guys that designed this amazing building. I could just imagine presenting this concept to my client and it took some balls to push the envelope with this design. It’s a great example of the rewarding return to going outside the box. I want to see more of this architecture in the world.
Australian architect Zvi Belling of ITN Architects has recently completed the Hive Apartment in Melbourne. The architect developed the project with his neighbour “Prowla”, a respected Melbourne graffiti artist who contributed the design of the graffiti letters, which are inscribed in the external precast concrete walls of the apartments, along with other hip hop iconography. The graffiti relief panel spells “Hive”, in a series of external geometries which have been extruded into living spaces in bulkheads and wall shapes, directly determining the interiors of the space.
The new apartment is an intervention into the fabric of the block. Through apparent contradiction, the volume seeks to knit itself into a previously existing building on the site, forming an integrated new cultural type that reveals the site’s history, with glimpses of period material and detail.
The concrete relief façade, containing shapes such as letters, arrows, swooshes and drips, has been slotted into the exposed brickwork shell of an old Carlton tailor shop. The four-metre-high concrete letters bear the load of all four stories, transferring to the footing through the oversized letter E and simultaneously creating a visual entry to the apartment. Similarly, the punctuations in the façades allow interesting views and natural light opportunities within the habitable spaces.
Thanks Ellis for the great find.
