Eve
living multi°
Eve is a residential complex located in Erskineville, Sydney. The project was commissioned by Fridcorp, with architecture by DKO. Eve was completed in 2016.
Size: 5,800m2
Budget: $66,000,000
Scope: Design Excellence Competition, Concept Design, Development Application, Detail Documentation, Construction, Post Occupancy Evaluation
EVE has been recognised with the following awards:
2018 AILA National Landscape Architecture Award - Gardens
2018 AILA NSW Landscape Architecture Award of Excellence - Gardens
2017 AIA Commendation for Residential Architecture - Multiple Housing
Generous public garden announces the entry
1. The communal podium landscape is an immersive garden (above left)
2. Concealed entries to private courtyards (below left)
3. A restrained material palette celebrates the planting (right)
The communal rooftop provides entertainment and respite
1. The planting palette is abundant and robust (above left)
2. Scaled plantings provide varied experiences and vistas (below left)
3. Sky vine grows on a simple trellis framework, for privacy ecology and amenity (right)
Engagement with landscape is maximised
Vivid and seasonal plant colours and textures
The private landscape contributes to streetscape amenity
‘In this project, aesthetics, program and sustainability are interwoven in a deeply satisfying way’
- Award Citation
Street gardens
The podium and rooftop landscapes are in dialogue.
Secluded rooftop garden retreat
1. All building levels are engaged with the landscape (above left)
2. The rooftop provides three outdoor entertainment cabanas (below left)
3. Complimentary curves and textures (above)
Concept Plan
‘the gardens offer an incredibly beautiful, immersive landscape experience in the midst of Erskinville’
- Award Citation
National Award Citation
EVE Apartments successfully establishes an immersive ‘backyard’ feel for residents through the use of a lush planting palette that promotes interaction with a mix of beautiful garden spaces.
Careful consideration between the interface of ground floor dwellings and the street has resulted in a series of raised terrace gardens that play a pivotal role between public and private life, engendering the neighbourly spirit of past terrace homes, whilst maintaining passive surveillance and engagement with the street.
All areas outside the building footprint have been maximized with garden areas to ensure a lush green outlook from dwellings is maintained. Rambling gardens spill out onto street frontages from secluded courtyard spaces. Planting extends up the façade of the building where vigorous rainforest vines reach skyward on ‘trellis’ structures that make balcony spaces feel more akin to a green ‘backyard’. The roof gardens, in turn, offer respite and recreation for residents with a series of spaces created by a sophisticated layering of lush dryland plants.
The jury commended the landscape architects for establishing a unique garden typology that promotes engagement and interaction with a diverse mix of species whilst enhancing the well-being of residents in medium density apartment living.
NSW State Award Citation
The Eve Apartment gardens offer an incredibly beautiful, immersive landscape experience in the midst of Erskinville. Every part of this design from the terraces to the courtyard and the rooftop uses a rich and experimental palette, to ensure lush and healthy planting in challenging site conditions. Of particular note is the use of space in what is a relatively small leftover area between buildings. In the courtyard, meandering spaces are carved out of what looks like a pre-existing, primordial landscape, with vines of Thunbergia and Cissus trailing from the buildings. The roof, in turn, offers respite and recreation for residents with a sequence of spaces created by a sophisticated layering of lush dryland plants. This configuration of spaces and the lushness of planting provide places for residents to enjoy the garden without disturbance from others, whilst retaining the overall sense of spaciousness.
In this project, aesthetics, program and sustainability are interwoven in deeply satisfying way. The Eve Apartment gardens are likely to be a significant local precedent for landscape architects seeking to enhance the well-being of residents and the ecology of the local and urban environment
