Republic by Fender Katsalidis Architects will include Canberra’s tallest tower.
Image: Fender Katsalidis Architects
A 113-metre Canberra tower designed by Fender Katsalidis will dwarf all other buildings in the nation’s capital, after the Australian Capital Territory government granted development approval.
The tower will be Canberra’s tallest building and is part of a $1 billion mixed-used development to be known as Republic, designed by Fender Katsalidis, that will also be the city’s largest.
Comprising three towers, the Republic development will be delivered in three stages and will, at completion, include 1,213 residential apartments, a hotel, a retail centre and more than 500 public car spaces in addition to parking for residents.
The precinct’s design will also incorporate “Melbourne-style” laneway stores, terrace houses, an amphitheatre, boutique office space, recreational facilities, a library and and a landscaped sky park with barbecue facilities.
To be located in Belconnen, north west of Canberra’s Capital Hill, Republic is designed to embrace the adjacent Lake Ginninderra, according to a statement from the architects.
“In its built form the composition of buildings is redolent of the unique topography of the locale – the hills and valleys, the sky and water,” the statement reads.
“The presence of Republic will reinforce Lake Ginninderra as a recreational focus of Belconnen through the strengthening of linkages to its foreshores.”
In regards to the unprecedented height, the architects stated that the buildings would be formed at an appropriate scale to streets and laneways.
“In places the taller buildings are set back, in other places they come forward close to the street, creating a strong presence while being responsive to the quality of the public domain they bound.
Republic by Fender Katsalidis Architects is designed to embrace the adjacent Lake Ginninderra.
Image: Fender Katsalidis Architects
“The lower buildings are clothed in a materiality of texture and grain, of light and shade, of solid and void. These buildings offer a human scale and a textural delight to those in and around the precinct.
“In careful contrast, the two taller buildings soar vertically, their curved and sinuous forms sculpted by light, their form expressive of the hills and valleys of the Brindabella Ranges.”
Developer Geocon stated construction would begin immediately. Geocon managing director Nick Georgalis said. “No-one can accuse Canberra of being boring or stuck in the past with this type of project going ahead.”
Fender Katsalidis Architects’ Republic Tower in Melbourne by Biatch, licensed under Public Domain
It will be the second significant high-rise tower development designed by Fender Katsalidis to be called Republic, sharing its name with Melbourne’s Republic Tower, completed in 1999.
Writing for Architecture Australia at the time, Norman Day noted that the tower was “quite simply a distinguished piece of construction, a flagship for buildings produced to house people in a dense city.”
Almost 20 years later, Geocon is billing Canberra’s Republic as similarly revolutionary.
“The 113-metre tower will look completely different to anything else in Canberra, with a 100-percent glazed façade,” said Georgalis. “The national capital has changed today with this vision set to become reality.”
