Tennis enthusiasts in Kangaroo Point find a safer and more convenient way of reserving a court through online booking.
The Kangaroo Point Sports and Tennis Club has started using the smart new booking system launched by Tennis Queensland. With the high-tech system, people can access the tennis facility through keyless entry. The booking system can allow entry to tennis courts 24 hours a day, but players can only use the Kangaroo Point tennis courts from 6am to 9pm.
Head coach Mark Toohey said that the new keyless entry system is going well for the club. People have been asking about the system since it was activated.
To book under the new Book a Court system, go to the bookacourt.tennis.com.au website, select the time and number of hours, then reserve. Once reservation is done, the system connects with a security keypad at the court. The person will receive a unique booking pin, which will have to be entered at the gate located at 51 Darragh Street. The system will automatically turn on the lights on the reserved court.
Twenty other clubs across Queensland have registered and are pilot testing the program. Only clubs affiliated with Tennis Queensland can use the online booking system.
The proposal to build a 15-storey complex on the site of a heritage home in Kangaroo Point is getting a host of criticisms, but the owner is fully defending the planned development.
Chris Snape, owner of heritage home Thornclyffe, wants to construct a 42-unit structure around the 1880s home. He explained that the development will protect the heritage home because it will become a focal point of the proposed complex.
Based on the submitted plans, the heritage house will serve as a common area for the residents of the residential building. The body corporate would be in charge to keep it intact and protected.
The Victorian-style heritage house was listed on the local heritage register for representing the appeal of the area for upper and middle class residents during the 1880s.
Mr Snape said that it became difficult to sell the property as nobody wanted to purchase a heritage residence with high-rise building around it. He thinks that the area is suitable for a high-density development and pursuing that plan would enhance the area and protected home as well.
In the plans sent to Brisbane City Council, original portions of the house will be kept intact, but the perimeter wall will be removed to open it up to the streets.
The planned development garnered 44 oppositions from the community. Jonathan Sri, Councillor for The Gabba, voiced out his concerns about the proposal, stating that it breaches the 10-storey limit set for the neighbourhood. He believes approval of such a proposal is not in line with the neighbourhood plan and does not meet the community’s expectations.
Cr Sri shared the letter he wrote to the Development Assessment team on this Facebook post.
Demonstrating the growing trend towards green architecture and sustainability in building design, Kangaroo Point’s Walan Apartments will be the first development in Brisbane’s fiercely competitive apartment-style high-rise market to utilise a large-scale “green wall”. Featuring a vertical forest that was designed to become an architectural landmark in Kangaroo Point, which is widely considered as Brisbane’s Little Manhattan, Walan’s address on #2 Scott Street is certainly going to give the precinct’s cityscape a picturesque and memorable addition to its riverfront skyline.
Inspired by the Kangaroo Point Cliffs, the building’s design incorporates six-metre high semi-mature trees which are braced and entwined, 14-storeys high, and growing up the spine of the main street elevation. “We’ve taken the green wall to new heights … This has never been achieved in apartment living in Australia before,” Cam Ginardi of developer GBW Group, proudly says.
Liam Proberts, architect and director of Bureau Proberts, is the creative genius behind the “vertical landscaping”, which draws inspiration from nature and the site’s relationship with its environment. “The main idea for this project was to create a home with a connection to the landscape … like having a mini-backyard running up the building,” Mr. Proberts explains.
“I’ve not worked on anything quite like this, but there is definitely a growing theme in Queensland of melding the indoor with the outdoor, and so this seemed like a logical thing to do … I’m sure it will be a model for future developments.” Mr. Proberts adds.
Such is the designer’s concern for preserving the site’s relationship to its natural environment that a heritage house which has originally been on-site, has been retained and carefully restored, to house a gym, lap pool, and kitchen in its new incarnation.
Other Green Buildings
Artist’s Impression of Jardino. From Brisbane Development.
Kangaroo Point is certainly getting its share of green buildings. In recent news, another project by Bureau Proberts, a 19-storey “breathing building” will soon rise on Hamilton Street. Aptly named Jardino, the building will have flowering plants on stainless steel screening wrapped around the structure, with a rainwater tank on the rooftop feeding a centralised watering system for the plants.
443 Queen Street, Brisbane. Photo from Brisbane Development.
Meanwhile, in Brisbane, a controversial 47-level tower will soon rise on 443 Queen Street, just a stone’s throw away from the iconic Customs House. Expected for completion in early 2018, this $375 million tower will have multiple gardens composed of stacked ledges at the building’s base. The top ledges will have trees, with shrubbery strategically positioned up the building’s side.
In Sydney, One Central Park has scored a world’s first, with its 116-metre vertical green walls. Designed by noted French botanist Patrick Blanc, it contains 35,000 plants. The building has thus far won at least 28 awards for its architecture, interior design and green credentials, including the International Green Infrastructure Award from the World Green Infrastructure Congress, and the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s award for Best Tall Building Worldwide.
Professor Sue Holliday, an authority on Urban Policy and Strategy from the University of NSW, made an excellent observation in her statement about Sydney’s One Central Park. “They made a lot of positive moves in that direction, which is where inner-city regeneration needs to go,” Prof. Holliday said, referring to incorporating sustainability in design.
Given Kangaroo Point’s vertical forest at Walan and the “breathing building” of Jardino, plus Brisbane’s Queen Street green development, Queensland’s architectural cityscape certainly seems to be branching out and growing in the right direction.
Amidst the increasing number of concrete buildings in Brisbane will rise a residential building that espouses the idea of a breathing building.
The proposed project called Jardino will rise on Hamilton Street in Kangaroo Point and promises to be an iconic green tower in the city. The building is in line with Brisbane government’s “Building’s That Breathe” design guideline, which calls for provision of lush landscaping, shade and comfort in new buildings that will be built in the city.
Jardino is a project proposed by Hamilton Street Enterprises and designed by Bureau Proberts. The architects described the towering garden as a new take of the backyard garden as residents will have a sort of green space just outside their homes.
According to the submitted proposal, the building will have 19 storeys and will offer views of the central business district, the Brisbane River and other notable landmarks such as the Story Bridge and Kangaroo Point Cliffs.
Around the building will be flowering plants along stainless steel screening. A rainwater tank on the rooftop will be the source for the centralised watering system for the plants.
