18 Gibson Street, Bowden is a mixed-use, multi-residential project positioned within a former industrial precinct, north-west of Adelaide’s CBD. Set within the established Bowden urban renewal precinct, the project is bounded by roads on all four sides, directly opposite a park.

Fieldwork was engaged by developers Otello to design a building comprising high-quality apartments integrated with a substantial wellness offering. Rather than treating wellness as something that only happens on the ground floor, our response integrates it throughout the building, which led us to ask what it really means to design a healthy building. This idea is the primary design driver, shaping the project’s organisation, structure and material approach.

The building is split into two wings, creating a generous open breezeway that runs through the centre. By slicing the building, every apartment receives light and ventilation from both ends. It also creates shared spaces for residents and open, light-filled entries, rather than dark internal corridors. Additionally, the breezeway supports neighbourly exchanges, functioning as a semi-private interaction zone rather than a purely functional circulation space.

The building’s podium draws reference from the local geology with recesses and under crofts that give each elevation a distinct character. Here, material expression pays homage to the industrial heritage of the area, realised through a rough, crushed brick and sandstone render. Planting and landscaping are embedded into the podium form, allowing the vegetation to appear as if it’s growing out of the structure.

Above, a lighter residential form emerges. The apartment levels are constructed using mass timber, including cross-laminated timber and glue-laminated timber. The timber structure is expressed throughout the building, visible in the soffits, breezeways and balconies. The use of mass timber supports lower embodied carbon outcomes, faster construction and healthier building conditions. It also brings the warm tactility of timber as a way to contribute to the lived experience.

A two-storey wellness centre is embedded within the podium, incorporating pools, saunas, gym and class spaces. While residents have access, the facility operates as a commercial offering open to the wider community, fulfilling an important niche for the precinct. On the south-west corner, a multi-purpose communal workshop for residents connects directly to the street, accommodating making, co-working and informal gatherings. These spaces create points of interaction between residents and the surrounding neighbourhood.

18 Gibson Street is designed as a healthy building in the fullest sense – socially, environmentally and spatially. It is a response to its park-side context, where community life is supported, and a holistic design approach fosters everyday wellbeing.