Extending a Narrative – Glyde Street by MJA Studio

Situated on the same site as a pre-existing nursery, Glyde Street is a medium density mixed-use model that weaves in elements of its past as a means to preserve its previous narrative. MJA Studio responds to the opportunities for passive comfort of the site by splitting the overall volume and creating quality places of occupancy in the process.

In its Mosman Park locale, Glyde Street is a prototype for the creation of responsive medium density mixed-use developments in an already well-densified and populated residential area. As the new proposal replaces an existing nursery, incorporating a substantial planted portion into the proposed built form was key to both continue the narrative of the site and to minimise the building’s impact. Weaving in elements of the site’s past with a respectful approach to an embrace of its context, the proposal optimises access to passive energy, reducing the overall energy footprint. MJA Studio has thoughtfully drawn on a development model envisioned as a benchmark: one which prioritises comfort and sustainability along with the other, more traditional considerations.

MJA Studio has thoughtfully drawn on a development model envisioned as a benchmark: one which prioritises comfort and sustainability along with the other, more traditional considerations.

Built by Emco Building, Glyde Street emerges as the first mixed-use development in the area since 2018, when revised planning provisions were put in place that halted any such works. As a prototype of sorts, the development is a model and example for future works in how it embraces sustainable principles, allowing the building to breathe and its residents able to live and work comfortably and passively. So often the energy-strain of a new development dampens the quality of the lived condition through the reuse of planning that is both ill-fitting and not conceived for the specific site. Glyde Street, however, responds to its context and is split down its middle to allow a breathing ‘inner valley’ that provides both natural northern light to all dwellings while also increasing access to natural ventilation in the process.

The proposal sees 29 apartments of between one to four bedrooms and dedicated commercial and co-working spaces that intertwine across the multiple levels. Through a carving out of the overall form, views are curated outward as well as allowing the natural in. A heavily landscaped approach also sees a quarter of the overall site area reserved for mature trees to be planted at street level, courtyards, the rooftop terrace and structured plantings throughout. The purposed incorporation of the past into the present ensures a lineage can continue, and a consideration of fusing the built and the nature happens in the core planning levels.

As a prototype of sorts, the development is a model and example for future works in how it embraces sustainable principles, allowing the building to breathe and its residents able to live and work comfortably and passively.

Glyde Street engages at street level through a considered articulation that continues upward through the building, where MJA Studio has softened edges and brought elements from the site’s past and made them a celebrated element of the present.