Located in Melbourne, the superslim Collins House by Bates Smart Architects demonstrates the potential of innovating with prefabricated construction solutions on sites that may previously have been overlooked by developers due to their small footprint.
Measuring 184m in height, this residential tower is built on a footprint of just 380 sqm, with a frontage of a mere 11.5 wide. Sandwiched between two existing buildings, the tower’s height ratio is 1:16, making it Australia's most slender tower.
Prefabrication was advocated to keep the construction period as short as possible. Offsite construction substantially reduced the amount of material and labour onsite, which enabled the site to function effectively with one tower crane and one hoist. Each precast floor, comprising 150mm thick, precast post-tensioned beams and pre-installed façade was craned into place in two to three hours.
The tower also integrates and cantilevers 4.5m over an existing heritage building. A self-supporting H plan (with elevators positioned to the side) allows the building to be column-free and maximize the floor plate width.
While some of the innovation lies in the way that the land deals were done, in particular, developer Golden Age buying the air rights over the adjacent heritage building to enable the use of the cantilever, most of the achievement is down to design and structural innovation.
'We have been honoured to work alongside Golden Age, Hickory and 4D Workshop to design and deliver Collins House. It is the first superslim residential tower in Australia designed using modular components, a solution that enabled construction on a site that was previously deemed undevelopable. This makes it an extremely unique building. As superslim towers rise in the world’s best cities, Collins House reflects how our firm harnesses innovation and strong collaborative relationships to set new global architecture benchmarks,’ says Simon Swaney, Managing Director of Bates Smart.
