THE IDEA

Footscray in Melbourne’s inner west is awash with urban infill projects, and apartments dominate many of them. Cowper Residences occupies a central site straddling a major train station, market, shopping precinct and arts hub. We embraced local character and scale to enhance liveability, workability and walkability with a mix of residential precincts linked by landscaped gardens, lanes, commercial tenancies and communal space.

“Successful urban infill projects embrace and enhance existing neighbourhoods. In Footscray, land reuse and densification is already well underway. Cowper Residences shows how urban infill really can bring a range of advantages to existing suburbs when we pursue dual benefits for developers and the community.”

Toby Lauchlan, Partner

THE SOLUTION

Cowper Residences comprises 16 townhouses, 400 apartments, 11 SOHOs (small office, home office) and several commercial tenancies including a ground-floor café. We avoiding domineering bulk by creating four precincts of six-star minimum homes, which integrate into the surrounding neighbourhood via a gradual step-up in built form.

Townhouses and a six-storey precinct front a fine grained residential streetscape to the south. In the centre, a 10-storey building addresses the railway line. Landmark 14-storey and 17-story buildings take their place near the prominent corner of Cowper and Hopkins Streets, creating a focal point for the Footscray Market area from the CBD.


THE IMPACT

Cowper Residences creates a strong sense of place and community. It helps to activate rather than dominate its distinctive neighbourhood. It uses built form, materiality and scale to integrate sensitively with Footscray’s existing transport system, retail scene and food and arts culture. Varied building types including three-bedroom townhouses and SOHOs provide new living and working opportunities.

A ground plane activated by mixed use tenancies and communal spaces including gardens and bike storage enhances social connection. Landscaping softens street frontage. Local flora frames stunning city views from rooftop terraces. Established trees help merge the development with the streetscape. Cowper Residences exemplifies our approach to creating vibrant communities via urban infill projects that help Australian cities evolve towards more compact, walkable villages.