High Street Armadale

The Carlile draws on surrounding typologies and scale to carve out it’s own unique identity that is both strikingly unique and comfortably familiar. Drawing on elements of surrounding Art-Deco heritage, the Carlile delivers a sensitive response to its urban context, with careful consideration of history, scale and amenity.

Entering between a familiar shopfront and re-purposed Victorian cottage, the scale remains human and tactile. Horizontal embellishments from the surrounding area are adopted and articulated through exposed, profiled slab edges. This considered approach introduces horizontality to the building mass, breaking up and reducing the perceived vertical scale of the design.

In between the concrete bands are a combination of full height glazing and concrete wall panels. The composition of solid and transparent elements is carefully considered to further break down building mass.

Solid precast wall panels appear to billow like curtains, softening surfaces that are commonly blank and unadorned. The glazing elements integrate operable elements that assist with regulating internal conditions through natural ventilation.

Several operable elements in the building’s facade address the need for adaptability in the building’s north facade. Fixed and operable shading elements allow residents to regulate the amount of daylighting and heat gain inside their homes.

A core tenet of the building’s materiality is durability. All primary materials are hardy with inherently decorative attributes. There is minimal applied finishing, which greatly reduces the need for costly and unsightly maintenance to the building’s facade.