York House

Positioned on the eastern side of Parnell Rise, Auckland, the proposal for York House is a mixed-use development with a prominent ground-level commercial/retail tenancy and five levels of residential apartments and basement parking below street level. The residential offering is arranged with apartments from the ground floor to level 3 and Penthouses to Levels 4 and 5. The building’s primary entrance is accessed directly off York Street, where the public encounters a distinct concrete-hued ceiling soffit reminiscent of draped fabric and a reference to Parnell’s industrial past. A ground-level tenancy positioned on the corner of York and Bradford Streets is proposed to accommodate a retail premise with an external terrace and will positively contribute to activating the street front and offer a visually open and engaging street corner experience. Residential levels are planned around the central circulation and structural core, and two lightwell voids to the Western boundary for natural light and ventilation at this elevation. The exterior building mass is formed by selecting four nodal points along the site’s boundary to establish a regular shape while maximising the floor area. The resulting envelope is sculptural and set back from the edges of the boundaries to help reduce the overall visual presence and weight of the proposed building for pedestrians at street level and while experienced from the surrounding peripheral urban fabric. The sculptural form of the building is anchored to the ground by the presence of four substantial vertical columns at the boundary corners, each taping inward along the internal edges to meet the curved horizontal bands of the building’s external facade. The external mass and facade are further broken up by the sequence of customised structural columns positioned along the exterior edges and are reflective of the curves of the building. A material palette that draws from the sites surrounding volcanic environment and historical context informs the dark-hued charcoal ribbed concrete building façade. This prominent textured external skin is inverse to the soft curves of the building’s envelope and evokes the feeling of an ancient structure. The vertical ribs formed within the exterior skin create an ever-morphing surface texture of shifting colour and shadow, animating the dark sculptural surfaces throughout the day. The selection of charcoals to light grey defines the material palette to establish a refined and timeless composition from street level to floors above. The integration of landscaping throughout the ground floor and the external balconies is used as an additional layer to soften the building mass, reflecting the tones of surrounding park spaces and expressing a sense of human scale. The project responds to the existing site through a sculptural building envelope and concise yet refined material palette of texture and colour found throughout the peripheral context to establish an architectural response expressing a building of quality and lasting timelessness. Similarly, the distinctive curved articulation of the building mass along the boundaries, native landscaping, and visually transparent ground floor entry/commercial space will positively and effectively activate the current streetscape.