Nightingale is a model for triple bottom line developments. The development is led by the Architect to produce medium density housing that is environmentally, socially and financially sustainable. Combining ethical investors and best practice in design, the ultimate goal of Nightingale is to provide great value housing by simplifying both the development process and the building itself.
Kennedy Nolan’s work in single and multi-residential projects; our exploration of interiors and landscape; our experience delivering a conventional development product, and our own investment in other Nightingale projects, led us to a Nightingale License in 2016. The following year, we purchased a site in a precinct shared with six other Architects. Alongside our professional contemporaries, we are contributing to an exciting urban village beside the Upfield train line in Brunswick, in the inner north of Melbourne.
The building consists of 28 apartments, ranging from small 34 sqm ‘teilhaus’ (studio) apartments to generous (80 sqm) 2 bedroom apartments. The building will be an exemplar in sustainable design (including a 7.5 star NatHERS thermal rating, 100% fossil fuel free in operation, zero private car parking and access to a shared basement with 15 car share vehicles). 20% of the apartments have been voluntarily pre allocated to an affordable housing provider and purchaser priority is given to key service workers, individuals with a disability and Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders.
Essentially, the Nightingale principle is to do more with less and for us this meant identifying fundamental parts of the building and thinking about ways to manipulate or deploy them to make our Nightingale feel domestic, warm, textural and particular. We tinted our grey pre-cast a warm pink and built a tonal palette of deep ochre windows, classic pressed-red bricks (very vernacular to Melbourne) and dark red balustrades. These elements are arranged with a playful approach, particularly on our west façade which has a friendly personality through its zoomorphic composition.
We made the interiors soft and warm, not too bright, eliminating white and using muted colour and graphic elements – a careful consideration of timber, cork, terrazzo, brass and wool which has all the attention and textural focus of our most celebrated single residential projects.
This is a building designed with community in mind, a community that is diverse, cohesive and connected. We are proud to have delivered 28 homes which have the comfort, delight and function for which our practice is known.