After almost 7 years, Proxima Residences, an apartment project that has been paused, restarted, seen a number of significant redesigns and had the challenging of selling into a market of far from optimal economic conditions is now nearing completion.

The Client for Proxima approached Construkt in 2017 with a brief for an apartment building that would make a statement, with the expectation being that the building would also act as a catalyst for transformation in an area to the south of the Auckland CBD where there is significant potential for urban regeneration.

The 1,145m2 light industrial city fringe site presented a number of challenges, including its proximity to the main arterial route of Newton Road, an existing petrol station abutting the southern boundary, and the predominance of commercial rather than established residential buildings in the immediate area. However along with these challenges there were favourable fundamentals of site, such as the views to the harbour to the north through the Newton gully and to the Waitakere Ranges to the south, a contour that aided in the formation of basement parking levels, and proximity to the city – all marking the site as highly suitable for the residential development proposed.

The result is a nine level apartment building that includes 64 one, two and three bedroom apartments and two and a half levels of basement parking, with the design acknowledging its immediate context by responding uniquely to both its Randolph Street and Newton Road frontages. The Randolph Street façade is sleeved with a gallery with expansive glazing, for openness and street activation, façade modulation through the use of balconies, projecting bedroom ‘boxes’ through the body of the façade, and is capped with a framed black box at roof level. In contrast, the Newton Street frontage is designed to appear bold and unapologetically urban given its high volume traffic environment, while still utilising the classic language of base, middle and top to bring scale and proportion to the building.

Apartment designs are always based on working with a regular structural grid in the laying out of the plans, however some of the most interesting apartment designs occur where the shape factor of the site necessitates moving away from the grid to provide a ‘one off layout’. For Proxima this occurs at the re-entrant light wells on the east and west facades resulting in perhaps the largest most useable ‘square shape factor’ balconies currently on the market in Auckland for one bedroom apartments.

With the introduction of residential activity on this site, and Proxima’s bold architecture, the expectation is that this development will be formative in the regeneration of this unique area in Auckland, and while the building stands as a statement in itself messages from the developer letting us know there are many very happy purchases, equally highlights the achievement of this project.