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Robust and unassuming, 17 Danks Street
apartments contribute to the lively urban
village of Danks Street, while enclosing its own
secluded haven within, in the form of a central
viewing garden. Its quietly formal brick street
facade is the backdrop for a playful copper
awning that frames retail spaces at ground
and basement levels. These spaces will add to
the area’s vitality.
Two parallel north-facing buildings are
wrapped in open concrete-block screens,
conceptually stretched to frame the quiet
interior courtyard which is landscaped with
large trees. The play of light and filtered
views combined with planted lightwells in the
screened communal galleries provide a serene
beauty in a post-industrial suburb.
All apartments enjoy a northerly aspect.
Interiors are experientially rich, designed with
a contrast of materials from the robust to the
refined - from white-painted brick walls to
over-scaled mouldings and bi-fold doors used
as a space-saving device. The combinations
are refreshing and perfectly suited to the
context.
Photo: Brett Boardman
Nº 17 Danks
SJB
On a main road in a local shopping strip,
Sydney 385 apartments demonstrate how
skilful planning coupled with the use of a basic
construction system – tilt-up concrete – can
achieve a refined and high-quality building.
Sydney 385 sits comfortably as a piece
of urban infill and contributes a generous
retail space with covered colonnade to the
high street. The asymmetrically composed
openings to the brick facades, with sheltered
balconies, provide a buffer to the busy road
and a counterpoint to the tightly controlled
interior planning of the apartments.
All have generously wide, open-plan living
areas and walk-through kitchens. What gives
the apartments their distinctive character is
the contrast between exposed concrete slab
ceilings and walls and the refined panellised
service cores, centrally located at the heart of
each apartment, floating free of the side walls.
Photo: Sharrin Rees
Sydney 385
Smart Design Studio
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