Australia will have world's tallest apartment building

The world's tallest apartment building is due to be completed in 2003, and Australia has the honor of claiming it. At 300 metres tall, the A$500m Eureka Tower will comprise 463 apartments, a five-star hotel, restaurant, swimming pool, gymnasium and several retail outlets, promising to be a 'mini- city' in itself.

The 88-storey tower, which will be the same height as the Eiffel Tower, will be located at Riverside Quay in Melbourne's Southbank and incorporate 'green' technologies, Australian construction and property online portal infolink.com reported

Architect Nonda Katsalidis, one of the partners in the consortium developing the project, says buildings like this are rare. "Eureka is my vision for the coming of age of Melbourne's residential living. City apartments are no longer transient abodes for students or single people working in the city," he says. "They are permanent homes in a vibrant city environment so they need to be designed with this fundamental difference in mind.

"They provide a real alternative to suburban living and the lawnmower cult. I am passionate about creating structures that combine beauty with convenience, comfort, security and environmental responsibility."

On this last point, the Eureka Tower does have the makings of a 'green' building, despite the likely quashing of initial plans for the building to be powered by its own solar energy.

"It is still being discussed," says Tone Wheeler, Sydney-based architect at Environa Studios and environment consultant for the tower. "But I don't think it will happen because of the lead times necessary to complete it in time."

What will go ahead are the inclusion of various technologies and materials that follow ecologically sustainable design (ESD) principles.

The outside of the building will be double glazed and covered in a glass skin which minimizes heat loss and gain. This is used on the outside of the balcony and moderates the temperature and quality of space inside it

"Living rooms and bedrooms in most apartments generally open out onto a shared outdoor room, usually called a sunroom or veranda," Wheeler says. "This balcony space is enclosed in such a way that you can use it as a sunroom in winter, a veranda in summer and you have access to it from a couple of rooms rather than it being tacked on."

Wheeler estimates the high-performance skin will reduce heating and cooling bills by around 40 percent. It also has the advantage of being discreet.

A "very sophisticated" air-conditioning system will also minimize the amount of energy used for heating and cooling. "It will be very important for each house to be individually monitored," Wheeler says.

To reduce the amount of energy used for lighting, items that are low wattage are being employed, together with Smart Technology that automatically switches off lighting and power to minimize energy consumption.

Water conservation is also being implemented, using minimum flush toilets and reduction flow to baths, showers and hand- basins and using triple AAA rated showerheads and fittings. The hot water system will be centralized for efficiency and a limited amount of water recycling will take place on site. Wheeler estimates these measures will reduce water usage by 35 to 40 percent.

The interior of the building is designed to minimize out- gasing - where drying agents in paints and glues used in joinery and carpets can leech out into the air over a period of years.

"Materials have been chosen to make the building a healthy one, rather than a sick one," Wheeler explains. "They have been chosen for being environmentally friendly both in their manufacture and use." The finishes are to be granite, stone and glass and the carpets will have felt, rather than rubber underlays. Natural, as opposed to reconstituted, timber will be used.

Wheeler says environmental factors are increasingly part of people's choice of where to live. "Although it's not their first preference - location and design still rank as higher issues, it is increasingly being seen as a preference," Wheeler says.

He believes it is a feminist issue. "Women are much more interested in the environmental side of things. Who pays the home bills and looks after the kids when they're sick with asthma and dust mites? Who takes them to the doctor who tells them the building is making the kids sick? "Women tend to be much more tuned to the idea that the building should save money and in terms of energy should be more environmentally responsive and primarily it's through their children who are educating them.

They come home from school and say 'Mum, why aren't we more environmental? Why don't we recycle?' And they're talking to mum, not dad."

The shift to inner-city living in Australia is relatively new compared to the U.S. and Europe. So, it is surely a promising sign that if a building this large and ambitious can incorporate ecologically sustainable principles into its design and construction, so can those that follow.

One can almost hear the cries of "Eureka" from the environmentally-aware.