Setting a Precedent – CRT+YRD by Hayball

Located in the heart of Nightingale Village, CRT+YRD by Hayball is a persuasive realisation of environmentally and socially sustainable housing. Featuring a large, central courtyard from which the project takes its name; a generous, north-facing rooftop; and a unique ground floor apartment, this project expresses an ingenuity rarely experienced in this typology.

The notion of community runs thick through Nightingale Housing’s veins, and CRT+YRD speaks to this idea with significance. Its very design, which centres around an expansive lightwell planted out with greenery at its base, was conceived to bring people together. As Bianca Hung, Principal at Hayball says, “understanding how people interact with their building and their community was really important so the central courtyard promotes this idea of a front yard – a space for residents to interact, and a space to become a threshold before entering into your own private home.”

The notion of community runs thick through Nightingale Housing’s veins, and CRT+YRD speaks to this idea with significance.

As a resident of the building, Thandi Patterson – who resides in the ground floor apartment which faces the newly activated Duckett Street and backs onto the central courtyard – echoes this sentiment, saying the community driven ethos is “fostered in the design”. She adds, “the fact that there’s this open, central courtyard space where you can see everyone is lovely, and again on the rooftop doing the laundry, the gardening or just sitting there having your coffee, there’s so many opportunities to have a chat with your neighbour.”

Also inherent to the design is a focus on sustainable design principles, which, as Thandi says, is not only embedded into the design of each apartment but leans on the strong sense of community. “There’s this mutual respect you have with the residents to be the best you can be because we’re all working on this shared project together,” she offers. There are several other aspects that enable residents to live sustainably; most notably, the highly efficient Fisher & Paykel induction cooktops, a key asset in Nightingale’s pursuit to deliver a gas-free precinct.

As Bianca Hung, Principal at Hayball says, “understanding how people interact with their building and their community was really important so the central courtyard promotes this idea of a front yard – a space for residents to interact, and a space to become a threshold before entering into your own private home.”

Thandi’s apartment features high ceilings, an elemental material palette and an open plan kitchen, living and dining area. Also, the floor of the main living area is stepped down from the entry via wide steps spanning the room, carving out spaces for living and offering casual spots for guests to perch. Given the apartment’s layout and size, Hayball pursued a minimal and uncluttered aesthetic in the kitchen, for which Fisher & Paykel appliances were the perfect complement. As Bianca explains, “the use of the Fisher & Paykel [induction] cooktops met our sustainability objectives but also created an opportunity within the design to enhance the amount of bench space and fit into the design aesthetic.” Sleek and streamlined, and in some cases, completely integrated into the timber joinery, the suite of Fisher & Paykel appliances matches Hayball’s design intent with ease.

Bianca feels deeply connected to this project and its ethics, many of which shake hands with Hayball’s longstanding values. Further, she expresses a distinct fondness for the Village as a whole – both for its ability to facilitate a lifestyle embedded in sustainability and human connection and, perhaps most importantly, for setting an intelligent precedent for future development in Australia.