2026 Finalist – Commercial and Multi Residential Exterior
2026 Finalist – Sustainability, Leadership and Design Innovation
2026 Finalist – Build-to-Rent and PBSA
2026 Finalist – High-Density Residential (200+ Homes)
The site sits on the former Hoffman Brickworks Quarry in Brunswick – previously a collection of fenced-off warehouses with no public access. Our architectural response is the opposite: open, permeable – a good urban citizen.
Working within the site’s Design Development Overlay, we started with the allowable building envelope and pushed against it – adjusting heights across the podium to signal entries, shift direction and bring variation to the form. From there, we carved out the main view lines running north and south and the primary pedestrian desire lines running southeast to northwest, leaving the final building form.
The project is resolved as two buildings with a generous space between them – one a wide thoroughfare, the other wrapping a central courtyard. Communal terraces sit at levels three and five. On the northern edge, a pavilion faces the sporting fields, with a café and a covered pergola with a communal BBQ open to residents and the public alike – a gesture we wanted to offer back to the neighbourhood.
Ground floor amenity is concentrated at street level to create activation: co-working, workshop, gym, yoga, shared laundry, residents’ lounge and media room. Upper levels hold a shared veggie garden, a large private dining room, and a terrace with views to the Melbourne skyline. Retail tenancies line the southern edge.
Materially, the design draws on Brunswick’s DNA – the Victorian-era red brick and post-war cream that define the local vernacular. Tones darken at the base to ground the buildings, lightening through the mid-levels to silver metal cladding at the top. Balcony details and window configurations vary across both buildings, so the development reads as a collection of smaller moments rather than a single mass.
Openwork’s landscape continues this approach, referencing Brunswick’s bluestone laneways with a planting mix of indigenous species alongside plants common to local gardens.
395 Albert Street,
Brunswick | LIV Albert
A build-to-rent development by Mirvac, surrounded on all sides by parkland.
Working within the site’s Design Development Overlay, we started with the allowable building envelope and pushed against it – adjusting heights across the podium to signal entries, shift direction and bring variation to the form.
