Squeezebox and the Enamaller Apartments

Affec­tion­ate­ly named ​‘Squeeze­box and the Ena­m­aller’, the project is the trans­for­ma­tion of a 1950’s enam­elling work­shop into a mod­ern mul­ti-res­i­den­tial build­ing in Brunswick. 

The exist­ing build­ing is an icon to local res­i­dents, with the pre­vi­ous own­er oper­at­ing for 50 years. Under­stand­ing the exist­ing build­ing’s local val­ue and link­ing to the sub­urbs old man­u­fac­tur­ing nature, the design is inspired by evolv­ing the building’s usage and the inher­ent inter­play of its indus­tri­al past and res­i­den­tial future.

At the ground lev­el, the ​“enam­eller” metic­u­lous­ly retains the exist­ing brick indus­tri­al build­ing. Extend­ing the indus­tri­al nar­ra­tive, the two-lev­el addi­tion cre­ates a point of dis­tinc­tion with its mod­ern detail­ing and fine rep­e­ti­tion float­ing above. A con­certi­na design along the west façade pro­vides a sys­tem to cre­ate pen­e­tra­tions for light and ven­ti­la­tion while pro­vid­ing pri­va­cy along the pub­lic laneway. The rhythm of the ​“squeeze­box” car­ries over the edge of the build­ing cre­at­ing a per­go­la for the front residence. 

Exter­nal­ly, two ​‘gold­en flecks’ pen­e­trate the ​‘squeeze­box’, like gems. Inter­nal­ly these cre­ate pro­gram­mat­ic oppor­tu­ni­ties for pri­vate plant­ed bal­conies off the mas­ter bed­room in two deluxe apartments.

Work­ing close­ly with the devel­op­er and the buy­ers, six three-storey homes are cus­tomised to pro­vide high­ly rel­e­vant indi­vid­ual respons­es. Each is shaped around its north roof gar­den, giv­ing max­i­mum expo­sure for light, whilst elim­i­nat­ing addi­tion­al over­shad­ow­ing to neigh­bour­ing prop­er­ties, and shield­ing views into adja­cent back­yards. Each pro­vides pri­vate out­door space, cov­ered park­ing, stud­ies and many unique fea­tures to embrace live­abil­i­ty with­in the increased den­si­ty. The inte­ri­ors car­ry through the indus­tri­al mate­ri­als and detailing. 

Stay­ing true to a robust his­to­ry, ​‘Squeeze­box and the Ena­m­aller’ is a series of homes made up of lay­ers of steel, brick and enam­el, danc­ing with the exist­ing shell.