Clifftop Icon – Rivière by Aria Property Group

The development team explains that the brief was “to create a distinctive architecture that captures the uniqueness of the site’s clifftop location”. The sculptural sawtooth form reflects the sharp angles of the cliffs, while offering multi-angled views of the river, the City Botanic Gardens and the city skyline from private balconies. But more than just rooms with a view, Rivière prioritises wellbeing, says the team, with an aim to “maximise landscaping that will enhance interaction with the natural environment and local context, and create shared spaces that encourage a sense of community in an urban resort setting”.

Breezeblock screens add to the visual lightness of Rivière, while performing an essential role in ventilating the building and keeping it comfortably cool in Brisbane’s subtropical climate. The screens allow the apartments’ sliding windows to be fully drawn, capturing breezes while maintaining security, with the same device used to cool the common hallways as well. The principle has been extended to the entrance of each apartment, with a perforated metal screen allowing residents to open their front doors to cross-flow breezes without sacrificing safety.

The sculptural sawtooth form reflects the sharp angles of the cliffs, while offering multi-angled views of the river, the City Botanic Gardens and the city skyline from private balconies.

Breezeblock screens add to the visual lightness of Rivière, while performing an essential role in ventilating the building and keeping it comfortably cool in Brisbane’s subtropical climate.

The vertical breezeblock device has also been used to cool the lobby, a space that is much more than a thoroughfare, rather a delightful place to linger. It contains a fully functional work-from-home space, plus a lounge area and coffee station, extending residents’ living spaces well beyond their own apartment and encouraging social connection within the building.

Cultivating a sense of community is a priority at Rivière. Additional resources aimed at nurturing residents’ sense of connectedness include a cinema room and wine cellar downstairs, a dining room and wine lounge, as well as a landscaped garden with sculptural seating pods, a large grassed area for picnics, barbecue areas, beehives and a dinosaur dig for the kids. Health facilities include a fully equipped gym, hot magnesium pool and rooftop infinity pool.

Sustainability has also been an important focus of the building’s design. The crossflow ventilation allowed by the breezeblock design dramatically reduces the need for air-conditioning – but this is only one of the project’s environmental measures. Solar panels on the roof help to power Rivière.

“The building incorporates a 65-kilowatt solar panel system that is connected to its common area power circuits to support daytime demands,” explains the team. “The system is currently generating approximately 1600 kilowatt hours a week, which we anticipate will generate about 83,000 kilowatt hours a year – roughly 60 per cent of the total communal power usage for the building.”

Cultivating a sense of community is a priority at Rivière.

Additionally, the rooftop is planted with Australian natives, watered by a high-tech irrigation system that cleverly captures and recycles any water runoff, emphasising the feeling of Rivière as a resort oasis in the midst of the bustling city.

Architecture and interior design by Bates Smart. Development by Aria Property Group. Landscape by RPS Group. Bricks and blocks by Brickworks.

The development team explains that the brief was “to create a distinctive architecture that captures the uniqueness of the site’s clifftop location”.