10
VISION 27 — THE OCTAGON
You remain faithful to the original plan.
That’s partly out of the practical aspect of getting this job
done in the short time frame we have, although we’ve gone
from seven hotel rooms per floor to whole, single-floor
apartments. There’s a distinct lack of amenity in the
old-style hotel room, compared to a luxury apartment
we’ve created. For instance, there are no wrap around
balconies. There are no covered outdoor spaces. There’s
none of these things you might expect to find. It’s very
similar to the Shazam app on your phone. When you play
Shazam the circle moves in and out as it’s playing the peaks
and troughs of the song. If you imagine this building as an
octagon, it’s moving to suit the building function. We force
the building out to the north to capture light and create
covered outdoor space. Where elbow-room is needed in a
kitchen or a living room, the building stretches and expands
there. We retain the octagonal form by creating ‘wings’ or
‘quadrants’ of an octagon. The octagon form highlights the
interiors and remains true to the plan. It is difficult dealing
with a building in the round, trying to translate that to an
elevation. Architectural features on the outside to a large
extent dictate what’s going on inside, but overlay that with
an octagon and you’ve got all sorts of complexities.
How do you go with each season of The Block with such
an ascending spiral of expectation?
I think that’s part of human nature in a way, to build on your
past successes. We set out to find something bigger and
better. We’ve been lucky enough to find the raw buildings
pretty much in line with this sort of ascension of scale. It all
began way back when the brief was to find a building that
could be adapted to make it aspirational. We’ve gone from
bigger and better and it’s partly to do with the success
of the show. From a building perspective I’ve been lucky
enough to help create these great spaces in bigger
and better raw shells along the way.
IT’S VERY SIMILAR TO
THE SHAZAM APP ON
YOUR PHONE. WHEN YOU
PLAY SHAZAM, THE CIRCLE
MOVES IN AND OUT
AS IT’S PLAYING THE
PEAKS AND TROUGHS
OF THE SONG.
Julian Brenchley, Architect