Gadigal people of the Eora Nation
New South Wales
Iglu Mascot’s architecture center’s on community in two ways. The building provides a much needed, high-quality home to more than 430 university students, close to Mascot Station. It also works hard to lift Mascot’s built environment, which is dominated by bland residential super blocks, traffic congestion, and a lack of open green space.
Three interconnected rectilinear volumes of varying height are organized around a landscaped courtyard. The volumes are wrapped in a precast concrete grid that embraces the modularity of the apartments within. Colour is integral to the grid, each volume is identified by its own unique hue, drawing from a palette that references Mascot’s older homes and brick warehouses.
Inside, the building balances efficient studio and 6xbed cluster apartments with generous shared amenities that support study and promote community. Communal outdoor spaces and soft landscaping have been maximised to improve liveability and set a new precedent for neighbourhood architecture.
The Aaron Bolot Award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing (NSW)
Iglu Mascot by Bates Smart represents a highly considered, exceptional architectural outcome. The project engages with the existing community and new residents alike and stands out from the moment you approach along John Street. In an environment where previous developments have instilled a sense of fear in the community, Iglu provides an exemplar for positive change, demonstrating the impact and value of good design.
The project shows qualities at urban, architectural, and human scales. The massing is composed of three primary elements in response to adjoining apartment buildings, creating separation and solar access. It repairs the anti-social environment that had previously arisen in the adjacent laneway through creation of a through-site link and the addition of amenity spaces that connect to the lane, enhancing both the internal and external environments.
The journey from the street, through the lobby, to the inner courtyard and amenity spaces promotes social experience and engagement with the sustainable initiatives embedded in the building. The spatial configuration of this journey through amenity is rich in connection, outlook, and openness to landscape encouraging use. These spaces further show a growth of the student accommodation model with a more sophisticated palette of materials and uses.
All these factors are then completed in a rigorous architecture that cleverly incorporates the needs of the building’s program.
We requested an urban student sanctuary with extra internal attractions as a riposte to Mascot’s ravaged local environment and damaged retail amenities. The amplified communal facilities provide broad programming for social, dining, study, recreational (courtyard and roof terrace) and physical (basketball and gym) activities. The triple height communal volume formed via front/back street level changes delivers strong communal and visual interconnectedness and links to outside.
It was critical that the building sensitively considered the amenity needs of the battle-weary neighbourhood. The building’s orientation and extra setbacks not only achieve this aim but provide a beautiful sunlit garden courtyard.
Acoustic Logic, Acoustic Consultant
Architecture and Access, Accessibility
Enstruct, Civil and Structure
FPOV, Lighting Consultant
Innova, Fire Engineering
Integrated Group Services, ESD + Building Services
JK Geotechnics, Geotechnical
RPS, Landscape Consultant
Steve Watson and Partners, BCA
Varga Traffic Planning, Traffic