The Future of Skyscrapers in Melbourne: From Hyper-Density to the Uplift Principle 墨尔本摩天大楼的未来 : 从 超密度 到提 升原理 Giorgio Marfella, Lecturer, University of Melbourne Giorgio Marfella, 讲师, 墨尔本大学
2015, another year of world records Source: J. Gabel, M. Carver and M. Gerometta, The Skyscraper Surge Continues, the Year of the 100 Supertalls, CTBUH Journal 1 (2016): 38-47.
Tall cities today: a global perspective Number of tall buildings (+150m height) >70; <100 >100; <150 Chicago New York Dubai Chongqing Guangzhou Shenzhen Singapore Shanghai Hong Kong Tokyo >150; <200 >200 Melbourne: 31 Buildings Number of +200m height buildings completed in 2015: 1
Tall cities today: Melbourne
Tall cities today: Melbourne
Building a skyline: a retrospective
Building height: historical (1955-1995)
CBD office buildings, 1955-2015
Building a skyline: 1955-2010
From the CBD to Southbank Building a skyline: skyscraper clusters in time Stage 1: 1960s to early 1970s Western end of Bourke; corner of Queen and corner of William Streets (AMP Square, BHP House); Stage 2: 1970s Paris End of Collins Street (Collins Place); Stage 3: early 1980s Western end of Collins Street (Rialto); Stage 4: late 1980s The Big Six, Collins Street and beyond (120 Collins, 101 Collins and more); Stage 5: mid 1990s to early 2000s NE, Lonsdale Street (Telstra, Casselden Place, QV and more) Stage 6: early 2000s Southbank, Eureka and FWP: City views are discovered
Current tall building activity: 4 districts
Current tall building activity: hyper-density
Origin of developers
Height and Slenderness
Under construction 35 Spring Street Developer: Cbus (Australia) Architect: Bates Smart Builder: Brookfield Multiplex Victoria One Developer: Golden Age (Malaysia) Architect: Elenberg Fraser Builder: Probuild Empire Melbourne Developer: Empire Group (Malaysia) Architect: Hayball Builder: Probuild Lighthouse Apartments Developer: Hengyi (China) Architect: Elenberg Fraser Builder: Brookfield Multiplex
Building Typology Historical Melbourne Skyscrapers (1955-1995) Future Melbourne Skyscrapers (2015-2020) Office buildings Built on large consolidated sites Built on small sites Typically centre core square plan towers Centre core, rectangular or cookie plan Structure: concrete, steel or composite Façades: infills, precast, stick curtain walls Space: open, 11m deep, flexible and resilient Plan shape wind adverse, but massive Residential buildings Structure: all concrete Façades: unitised curtain walls (imported) Space: fragmented by shear walls Plan shape curved, wind-driven, slender Built for medium or long term rental Built for sale off the plan
Outlook, +150m high buildings
Regional outlook Chengdu Chongqing Guangzhou Shenzhen Kuala Lumpur Singapore Jakarta Shenyang Seoul Shanghai Hong Kong Melbourne Tokyo Brisbane Sydney Number of tall buildings (+150m height) < 50 > 50; <100 >100 >200 Tall building numbers in major Australasian cities inclusive of building proposals to date; Building height: +150m (Source: CTBUH, Skyscraper Center, accessed 18 April 2016)
Global outlook: +200m buildings Number of tall buildings (+200m height) <40 >40; <50 Chicago Toronto New York Shenyang Dubai Chongqing Guangzhou Shenzhen Kuala Lumpur Singapore Jakarta Shanghai Hong Kong Tokyo >50; <100 >100 Melbourne s prospect: 44 Buildings In prospect, within top ten cities worldwide
Built-form review
Melbourne CCBFR, April 2016 Source: Hayball, Architectural Testing of Built Form Controls: Melbourne Hoddle Grid / Southbank, Central City Built Form Review, Melbourne, 2016. Available at http://delwp.vic.gov.au/ data/assets/pdf_file/0018/330192/central-city-built-form-review-architectural-testing-report-2016.pdf
New density scenarios Previous controls No FAR, discretionary assessment New controls, testing scenario Building height < 100m New controls, testing scenario Building height > 100m Source: Adapted from Hayball, Architectural Testing of Built Form Controls: Melbourne Hoddle Grid / Southbank, Central City Built Form Review, Melbourne, 2016. Available at http://delwp.vic.gov.au/ data/assets/pdf_file/0018/330192/central-city-built-form-review-architectural-testing-report-2016.pdf
The uplift principle Floor Area Uplift (FAU) that part of a building containing the uppermost floor area of the building, without which the building would not exceed a floor area ratio of 18:1. Floor Area can be uplifted in exchange for monetary valuable public benefits public open space; publicly accessible enclosed areas; social housing; a competitive design process; commercial office use; a combination of these. The benefits are recommended to be on site or within the proposed building. Source: DELWP, Melbourne Central City Built Form Review, April 2016.
Summary Worldwide, global cities are building more and more tall buildings. The contextual threshold of what can be considered tall in large metropolitan areas is shifting upwards, from 150 metres to 200 metres. In Melbourne the tall building height threshold in the Central Business District is being pushed over 150 metres by a residential skyscraper boom. In less than ten years, Melbourne may triple the number of buildings taller than 150 metres. By 2020, considering current development proposals, the Australian city could surpass cities like Chicago, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo and Singapore for number of skyscrapers taller than 200 metres. Melbourne s boom is residential, hyper-dense and glocal : more than half of the new skyscrapers in the CBD and in Southbank are apartment towers developed from overseas - China, Malaysia and Singapore; in the last five years, many projects were approved with FAR over 20 and not seldom up to 50 and even more. The boom is now in its executive phase. The city is subject to a considerable level of building activity; building technologies mostly used are all-concrete structures and curtain walls. In the meanwhile, the current stock of commercial office towers of the city is ageing. The new residential skyscrapers will flank and, in several cases, over-tower the older office skyscrapers or overcrowd their surroundings.
What next? The social, demographic, economic and aesthetic impacts of this boom are still unfolding. The State Government of Victoria recently re-introduced FAR-based built-form regulations that seek to gain more transparent and direct public benefits from tall building activity in the inner city. The new controls mitigate historical problems of laissez-faire and recent failures by authorities to acknowledge and plan tall building activity in the city. The base FAR of the new regulations is 18, which based is still generous by global standards. The new regulations allow developments to uplift the base FAR in return for public benefits. The potential public benefits that may arise from the new regulations rely on the prospect that very dense residential building activity will continue in the inner city. The opportunity to realize community benefits is still subordinated to an ongoing but uncertain - expansion of high-rise residential supply, which is already set to triple the number of tall buildings of the city.