Nightingale Village

Nightingale is a model for triple bottom line developments.  The development is led by the Architect to produce medium density housing that is environmentally, socially and financially sustainable.  Leftfield is Kennedy Nolan’s first project under the Nightingale model, and was delivered with Kennedy Nolan also in the role of Developer.

Essentially, the Nightingale principle is to do more with less and for us this meant identifying fundamental parts of the building and thinking about ways to manipulate or deploy them to make our Nightingale feel domestic, warm, textural and particular. 

One of the things we wanted to achieve with our Nightingale building was to imbue our building with a personality, to give it a presence in the urban realm which felt individual, warm and welcoming.  The constraints of cost and durability can be limiting in multi-residential buildings so we looked to introduce this personality and presence through texture, colour and large-scale composition - opportunities we identified as achievable within the constraints.   

A generative gesture was to tint the grey pre-cast a warm ochre from which we built a tonal palette of orange-red windows, doors and metalwork and terra-cotta painted FC sheet all offset against raw concrete.  The walls and ground plane at the base of the building, the principle point of close interaction on the street, are clad in the familiar pressed-red bricks of 19th century Melbourne.  All elements are arranged with a playful approach, particularly on our west façade which has a friendly personality generated by its mega-scale zoomorphic composition.  This western façade is visible from a great distance over Brunswick and as the western sun hits it in the afternoon, it glows warm and friendly.  

Leftfield is a complete building in the classic modernist sense – the interiors express the same concepts as the overall architecture; specifically a focus on using colour, texture, pattern and composition to elevate the limited palette of the multi-residential genre and make something domestic and individual – a specific and actively engaging setting.  Consequently, the interiors are soft and warm, not too bright, eliminating white and using muted colour and graphic elements – a careful consideration of timber, cork, terrazzo, brass, wool and linen which has all the attention and textural focus of our most celebrated single residential projects.

There are elements of the design which are common to all Nightingale projects such as external vertical circulation, this helps encourage physical movement and informal interactions which help build community.  At Leftfield, our stairs are open to the beautiful long western views and are enlivened by supergraphics and deep shadows.  Similarly all Nightingales have communal facilities on the roof, including a laundry, vegetable gardens and a common area for residents.  At Leftfield, the gardens were designed by our regular collaborator, Amanda Oliver, and with the incorporation of natural timber, washed aggregate paving, intense colour and a dramatic roof oculus, the space is particular to the building and the community that call it home as well as being an authentic representation of the design values of Kennedy Nolan. 

Leftfield consists of 28 apartments, ranging from the compact 34 sqm ‘teilhaus’ studios, up to generous 80 sqm 2-bedroom residences. The building is an exemplar in sustainable design (including a 7.5 star NatHERS thermal rating, 100% fossil fuel free in operation, zero private car parking and access to a shared basement with 15 car share vehicles).  20% of the apartments have been voluntarily pre-allocated to an affordable housing provider and sensitive placement of tenants in ‘blind’ fashion has resulted in a cohesive, functional community which is mutually supportive - this is amplified by the mixture of ages and family types.

This is a building designed with community involvement in mind, a community that is diverse, cohesive and connected.  We’re looking forward to the residents enjoying their 28 homes which have the comfort, delight and function for which our practice is known.