This competition called us to design 8 luxurious towers with 4 apartments occupying each floor. The project needed to address sustainability in an undefined way that was left open to the designers. Following the local topography, we arranged the towers in a fan like formation, affording dramatic views of the city and sea beyond. Pushing the towers slightly into the hillside opens up a view for the public from the park behind our site. The section line of the hill inspired the roof garden entry to each apartment.

The orientations and entries of the buildings make them blend harmoniously with their natural setting. As one approaches the towers from the road they have the appearance of a series of private villas - low and demure, each with its own private driveway and pedestrian bridge. In between the buildings there is a semi-public garden, and a reflecting pool which spills over the edge and fills the space with the sounds of falling water. The repetition of a 1.6 m x 1.6 m grid throughout the apartments keeps the design clean and rigid. Simple yet elegant wood paneling compensates for this rigidity, filling the space with warmth. A continuous retaining wall that gently follows the road curve is topped with an indigenous vegetation filled planter. It is tiered and planted at each of the floor levels, and provides an arboretum light well between the rear of each tower and the road.

Each residential tower has its own private front garden that provides a pleasant welcome to residents or visitors. The towers are constructed from three environmentally responsible materials: concrete, steel and glass. The site cast concrete construction common to the region is both cost effective and environmentally responsible due to the natural source and the re-useable nature of the material.