Aqua apartments is a 16 storey residential apartment building located in the Newstead residential precinct. The building features twelve storeys of luxury apartments and three levels of carparking constructed over an existing basement and podium structure. Design of the superstructure was developed in conjunction with the architecture to ensure that the existing foundation and core structures could be utilised without significant remedial work, thus providing a cost effective structural solution for the entire project.
The residential levels were designed as conventional reinforcement concrete flat plates whilst the carpark levels were designed using a precast hollowcore flooring system. The precast flooring system allowed for construction of the carpark levels without provision of back-propping to critical areas of the existing podium structure. This allowed the existing basement carpark, which also services existing adjoining developments, to maintain operation during construction.
The building core was designed using interlocking precast wall elements to expedite construction.
The aqua development also incorporates a significant number of feature screens and green-wall structures to the carpark façade, and a separate café structure constructed over the existing podium and situated on the Ann Street frontage. The café building incorporates a warped feature roof constructed from structural steelwork.