VERTICAL BACKYARD

Conceived by the same team behind the award-winning Silt apartments at Kangaroo Point, the Walan apartments represent a collaboration between Brisbane-based architecture firm Bureau Proberts and developer GBW Group.

A 14-storey residential complex, the Walan will contain a luxury apartment on each level, spanning the entire floor. Each apartment is rumoured to be valued at $4 million. What sets the luxury complex apart however is the vertical forest that will feature mature shrubs and full-sized semi-mature trees, which will be planted throughout the building and emerging from private balconies.

Bureau Proberts director and architect Liam Proberts is responsible for the design of the complex, which he calls a “vertical landscape”.

“The main idea for this project was to create a home with a connection to the landscape,” Mr Proberts said. “It’ll be like having a mini-backyard running up the building.”

The project drew inspiration from the site’s natural surroundings. According to Proberts, “the unique façade references the river’s edge and draws on the fissures and openings of the surrounding cliff embedding the building in the landscape of Kangaroo Point. This connection to the cliffs is continued internally, using carefully selected travertines and natural stones for benchtops and wall features throughout.

“I’ve not worked on anything quite like this, but there is definitely a growing theme in Queensland of melding the indoor with the outdoor, and so this seemed like a logical thing to do.”

Place Estate Agents’ Simon Caulfield, who is marketing Walan, said while there were other one-per-floor projects, Walan’s difference was the feeling of living in a “Queenslander in the sky” with cross ventilation and an aspect from every face of the building.

“Anyone can put nice finishes in a building, that’s a simple way of designing luxury, but Walan is not just about the finishes, it’s about the function - how well you can live in 10 years’ time,” claims Caufield.

Construction on the Walan apartments is expected to be completed early in 2018.