Two new student accommodation open in the heart of Melbourne CBD
The beginning of 2023 was a flurry of activity both in our studios and on our project sites with multiple large projects coming to completion.
We’d like to especially announce the recently completed student accommodation towers in the heart of Melbourne CBD developed by Cedar Pacific and operated by UniLodge. We are proud to assist with the delivery of these projects with the design reflecting on Cedar Pacific’s commitment to developing sustainable buildings.
We’re excited to see students enjoy these spaces and continue their academic journey for the years to come.
Credit: Images by ICON Construction.
La Trobe Street
293-203 La Trobe St is a premium purpose-built accommodation offers students a unique and convenient lifestyle, sitting tall at 46 storeys with 714 beds.
The client’s brief is to provide accommodation for students without sacrificing their social lifestyle and enhancing their educational experience. Encouraging a sense of community is at the heart of UniLodge’s operational model, forming an integral part of the design philosophy. This has been achieved by facilitating spontaneous student interactions throughout the whole development with thoughtful design considerations.

17-21 Wills Street
17-21 Wills Street saw a unique opportunity to add to the existing heritage-listed art deco print work for the student accommodation and offers 668 student beds. The highly propositional Wills Street responds intelligently and responsibly to the building environs and the proximity and orientation of the surrounding commercial and residential towers.
The main tower sits atop a concrete tabletop that delineates the tower from the podium. The platonic tower form draws inspiration from traditional housing and a fresnel lens as a homage to the existing building on site, which has the quality of hierarchy and order, material honesty, texture, reflection, refraction, obscurity, and screening.
Principally motivated by the quality of the environment for the resident, the tower facade is an exploration of the complexities of light penetration and privacy that references both the traditional Asian principle of co-habitation, the subtlety of the silhouette, and the light effect created by a fresnel lens on the refraction and reflection of light. The outcome is a sophisticated illuminated building, a dynamic crystalline ‘lantern’, in constant flux with the weather and through the influence of human activity within. As a result, the project achieves a student accommodation that balances design excellence, amenities, and pastoral care.

