Hillside Gardens

Harold A. Krantz

1963.

59 Malcolm St, Perth. 

Photograph by Fritz Kos.

Introduction

The architects feel that they can claim some sought of record for structural economy with this unusual design on reinforced concrete load-bearing walls. The ten-storey balcony access structure contains 46 one-bedroom and 9 two-bedroom furnished flats, each having one or more private balconies. In accordance with owners’ original intension, 11 flats on the two top floors have been sold as home units, and the remainder – equally well furnished and equipped – have been let. The cost of the building, including furniture, extensive retaining walls and underground garaging, as less than £155,000.

Structural Economy

The most unusual feature of the design is the staggered arrangement of the flats so that the party wall between units acts as a beam supporting the floor slabs at the centre of the flats above and below. The structure is actually a series of in situ concrete cross-walls perforated by storey height openings on alternate floors. The cross-walls are stiffened at each end and in the middle by short lengths of wall.

Structural economy is achieved because, in addition to the usual function of enclosing or subdividing space, every wall is actually ‘working’ as a structural member – either as a column or a beam. At the bottom of the building compressive stresses approach the maximum permissible, which means that the cross-sectional area of each ‘wall column’ is little more than that required for a conventional column with its load of non-structural-masonry. Since the external and party walls have been reduced to the 6” minimum thickness required by local authorities to ensure resistance to sound, heat and weather, their structural capacity is virtually an economy bonus.

Because of the staggered flat arrangement, it was possible to maintain a 4” slab thickness throughout – again a regulation minimum. Such a thin slab would not have been possible with any other form of construction. The thin walls and slabs produced a cost-saving reduction in the volumetric size of the building. In fact, sufficient area was saved to construct one additional flat within the maximum gross floor area.

Appearance

The choice of structure plays a dominant role in the appearance of the building. It is most clearly expressed on the city side, where the staggering of the balconies creates a lively pattern, emphasising each individual flat. Internally, the appearance is unmarred by the ugly joints and projections in walls and ceilings which are associated with framed or flat plate construction. Perhaps most important of all, loaf-bearing structures have visual qualities of permanence and stability which help to create the sense of security and privacy so necessary in a residential building – in other words, an atmosphere of domesticity.

Constructional Review, October 1964.