Embracing Modernist Principles – Napier Street Apartment by Freadman White for Milieu

Embracing modernist principles, Napier Street Apartments sees the crafting of an inner-urban residential vernacular built on spatial understanding and textural refinement. Designed by Freadman White for Milieu, the combination of subtleties and warm neutral tones respect the building’s heritage neighbours and legacy.

Befitting the heritage-rich and design-focused Fitzroy locale, Napier Street Apartments bridge the contemporary and the heritage, with elements of neighbouring historical details and stories told brought together through a deliberate and refined lens. Freadman White proposes a highly articulated residential response, where each dwelling is greeted with a soft and calming sense of place echoed through the rhythm of materiality and form. Taking cues from its modernist predecessors, a rational and robust approach was adopted in all aspects.

Comprising a total of fourteen apartments, Napier Street Apartments are curated and considered, appealing to the space between the old and the new. Taking inspiration from Heide II, the combined approach to resilience, rationality and a technical precision are principles taken from the modernist approach. Combined with a softness and tactility, the resulting homes speak to a European classicism as a connection to materiality and spatial awareness. The use of warm timber and rendered walls offer a textural variety, which is then balanced by the precision of brass detailing and sharp plaster throughout.

The minimal and restrained approach to form and detailing is seen throughout, with clean lines and bold masonry clearly defined. The façade takes on an angular approach, with is interrupted and softened with glazing, greenery and perforated brickwork. Throughout, refined details sit comfortably alongside the more bold and tactile elements, offering an elevated residential experience and referencing craft. 2.9m high ceilings of exposed concrete are balanced by the natural stone accents throughout and offer an engagement with quality. And, with sustainable principles inherent in each element of the design, cross-ventilation and access to solar heat gains and natural light are emphasised. These gestures are echoed in the integrated greenery and landscape throughout, which will grow and further permeate the architecture over time.

Immersed within an important and historically preserved part of Melbourne’s inner-northern enclave, Napier Street Apartments combine luxury and an understanding of spatial preservation. Freadman White has created an exemplar in sensitive medium-density living, and the result sits comfortably in its rich surrounds.