No Two The Same

by Melbourne Design Studios

No Two The Same is a luxury Richmond residence of renovated Melbourne townhouses.

Located in the historic inner-city suburb Richmond, this townhouse development consisted of renovating several existing Victorian heritage dwellings into a street of luxury residences.

Shortlisted in both the Sustainability Awards and the ArchiTeam Awards, this development features six bespoke urban residences, which was an award-winning transformation of derelict heritage properties.

The development balances a heritage setting with contemporary sustainable design, redefining typical urban townhouse design to hero connection with the landscape and surrounds, and to feature intriguing details.

Marking a significant departure from conventional townhouse typology, Melbourne Design Studios created unique multi-functional, spacious and luxurious living areas within each dwelling, in an otherwise tightly built-up urban area.

Boasting a rare combination of light-filled internal spaces gathered around multiple outdoor spaces and rooftop terrace with city skyline views, each luxury townhouse has over 20% more outdoor space than a typical solution, with the six different outdoor spaces designed for various activities and purposes.

A row-house design and strong contextual architectural response blends the development with its gritty inner-urban location; inside, the blurred indoor-outdoor zones achieve a private oasis tucked away in an urban setting, offering a vital connection to nature to facilitate well-being.

Designed in response to the Melbourne climate, each townhouse offers a holistic and contemporary approach to sustainable design and passive solar design principles. The concept design won the 2013 BDAV 10 Star Challenge in the Multi-Res Category and the as-built achieved an average 7 Star NatHERS Rating across all townhouses.

Sustainable features include the use of natural, recycled and sustainable materials, many of them with supply chain certifications, thermally broken windows with double glazing, extra insulation, solar hot water, rainwater tanks and many more.

Each luxury townhouse has north facing orientation to draw in natural light throughout the homes, “thermal chimneys” to evacuate heat through summer, and cross ventilation for fresh air year-round. Passive design systems ensure that the same benefits they provide today last throughout the life of the building.

One of the ambitions for this project was to seamlessly integrate these sustainability measures into the high-level design so they don’t appear as superfluous ‘green’ add-ons.

For example, the rainwater tanks have been elegantly designed into a raised planter bench seat within the internal courtyard of each residence, providing rainwater storage of 14,000 litres across the project.

Each unique townhouse, both inside and out is the perfect play of space, lots of light and modern contemporary living, with a bit of luxury.

Photography by Peter Clarke.

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