Redefining Canberra’s Landscape
When it comes to cutting-edge, modern architectural design, Kashmir is leading the way in innovation and elegance. Its unique structure is striking and bold. It sets a new standard for architectural excellence in Canberra apartments; a prominent feature on Northbourne Avenue that will demand attention and inspire ideas.
We sat down with Marcus Graham from Stewart Architecture to learn more about its exquisite design.
From the beginning of the project, what did you find unique about the Kashmir site?
The Kashmir building is quite unique because it’s in a heritage area of the site. This site had some of the early examples of medium-density housing in Canberra and we’re retaining one of those on the site. Kashmir forms a backdrop to that heritage building and the heritage landscape, including the mature trees.
Canberra is a very young city and so we don’t have a lot of heritage elements within the fabric of the city, so here at Soho it’s a wonderful opportunity to maintain some of those original heritage medium-density housing examples within the precinct and we celebrate those and build around them, as well as the gardens, and integrate them into the Kashmir project.
What are some of the unique architectural qualities of Kashmir?
With Kashmir, we set out from the start to create apartments that were authentic to Canberra. It has some really interesting detail and materiality and most prominent are the beautiful bronze external screens that wrap the building. They create this amazing dappled light within the apartments and that’s teamed up with this beautiful steel detailing; it’s a really finely considered detailing around the entire project.
Because of the desire to create a very organic form, we’re utilising curved glass, both in the windows and the balconies, which really is quite unique and a very elegant solution for Northbourne Avenue.
It’s been all about creating an authentic living experience in Canberra. There’s nothing else quite like Kashmir in the market, and it’s been designed to provide apartments which also offer the benefits of a traditional home.
And how about inside the building?
When you enter the building it’s beautiful, it’s a double-height lobby, it’s light filled, sunny and to promote walkability in the building, all of the stairwells are open with views out, so you don’t have to use the lift to move through the building.
It is very domestic in feel, there’s no more than six apartments per lobby, so it’s a much more intimate residential building. On top of the building there are communal terraces and gardens, so the whole rooftop is landscaped for the residents and their guests to enjoy.
The apartments are spacious but they’re not spacious through large floor plans, they’re spacious through clever designs. So, every aspect of the apartment design has been considered to maximise views, sunlight and just general arrangement of living.
It sounds like a special building…
It is. There are some really unique aspects to Kashmir and first and foremost is the organic design. They’re not regular, rectangular apartment buildings, our brief from Art Group was to create a very organic design and that’s eminent in the curves both in the exterior and the interior form of the building.
They’re sculptures within the landscape and it has this wonderful veil over the building, which are the perforated screens, so they allow you to control the sunlight coming into the apartment and also control and direct your views out of your apartment. It’s quite unique.
Was Kashmir’s site and location a big consideration when it came to its design?
Predominantly when we design buildings like Kashmir, we seek to create a design that responds to the environment around it. Every project’s unique, and this site on Northbourne Avenue has a number of unique characteristics.
There is the opportunity of the light rail, the beautiful views and vistas around the site, the native tree canopy along the avenue. The building responds to all of that and environmentally, it looks to control the sun and winds so it’s a comfortable living space at all times.
Kashmir is all about modern apartment living in Canberra. It has a unique design, it’s very responsive to its site but it also provides residents with a real sense of luxury on Northbourne Avenue.
