DKO and Breathe Architecture have teamed up to create ‘Arkadia’, with the concept chosen through a design competition. The development by Defence Housing Australia consists of a part three-storey, part six-storey residential building constructed predominantly in recycled brick.

DKO and Breathe Architectrure’s concept incorporates 155 apartments, parking for 124 cars, 10 motorcycles and 176 bicycles, and a communal music room, spread throughout a unique curving building that encircles a public communal open space. Over 50 per cent of the roof top level is dedicated to communal open space while Pocket Parks are also spread out on levels two, three and five to service a smaller community within the development.

The massing, geometries and material palette of the building respond to both the history of the site’s surrounding neighbourhood, as well as its well-documented aspirations for the future. The building combines a robust and industrial material palette of brick, concrete, metal panelling and glass – a nod to the neighbourhood’s brick manufacturing past—with through-site links and community gardens to integrate the building with Alexandria’s new residential communities.