Grace on Coronation / Zaha Hadid Architects

Zaha Hadid Architects have unveiled their latest design, an urban riverfront development in Brisbane. The project consists of three 22 and 25-story sculptural residential towers containing 486 apartments and eight riverfront villas, along with car parking spaces and 7,300 square meters of landscaped public parklands. According to property developer Sunland Group’s Managing Director, Sahba Abedian, Grace on Coronation is slated to reinvigorate a historic site.

Located in Toowong, opposite Toowong Village Shopping Centre and nearby the University of Queensland’s historic St. Lucia campus, the development is 4 kilometers west of Brisbane’s Central Business District. The site holds historic significance, and includes the Heritage-listed Middenbury House of the 1860’s, which will become part of the public parkland precinct. Featuring 130 meters of direct river frontage, the site itself is highly regarded. Of the Grace on Coronation proposal, Mr. Abedian explains: “Importantly, it is a vision that opens up the site to the broader community through the creation of expansive public parklands, a riverside viewing platform and the transformation of Middenbury into a meaningful public space.”

Each residential tower, “reminiscent of a flower in bloom,” is designed with a multilayer facade, composed of curtain wall glazing beneath a diamond patterning of glass reinforced concrete. Zaha Hadid explains, “The design tapers each structure to minimize their footprint and open the riverfront to the public; creating a vibrant civic space for Toowong within a new riverside park.”