“The architects have limited the facade expression to two dominant systems that shift and evolve to varying conditions, programs and the form. Keeping strictly to a limited palate brings clarity to the complex form while balancing the scale of the conjoined towers with the permeability and diversity of the public realm. The colonnade shifts with the fall of the site and creates a strong legibility to the various urban conditions and different programs, creating a series of generous public spaces and experiences that contribute to the integration of the project with the city.”

Both the Commercial Architecture and Urban Design juries described Collins Arch as a “rare example of true mixed use”. They commend the architects for successfully integrating “retail, hotel, offices and apartments into a single arched tower form, maintaining a permeable, publicly accessible ground plane with new through-block connections”. 

Describing Collins Arch as unlike anything else in the city, Woods Bagot CEO Nik Karalis says maintaining Melbourne’s status as one of the world’s most liveable cities requires continual evolution and innovation.

“The project is born of two key, complementary ideas: an urban design rationale that links it to a larger public space network; and a concept for mixed use development that privileges the activation of the ground plane to create a landmark destination,” said Mr Karalis.

The building’s bold and striking form – two towers connected by a skybridge –was dictated by the mix of program.

“The skybridge connecting the two buildings is not simply decorative. It maximizes views and sunlight for office, hotel and residential occupants of the two buildings that, on the ground, meet public space and commercial requirements,” says Bill Sharples, SHoP founding principal. “The ground plane was always where the project started; the building’s form was a result of the program.”

Collins Arch is the brainchild of Cbus Property, an Australian property investor and developer. The project now progresses to the National Architecture Awards, which will be announced on November 4.