OUTSIDE INTEREST [ Sydney Olympic Park ]

AN ABUNDANCE of green space is not an amenity one typically associates with apartment living, but when it came to the Pavilions Residences at Sydney Olympic Park, Mirvac went to heroic lengths to make the natural environment a starring feature.

The build involved a bold rescue mission for a pair of enormous fig trees that had graced the site for eons – one of which was painstakingly transplanted over more than six months by a team of expert arborists, inching its immense roots to loosen their grip until the tree could be moved to its prime position at the entry.

“The overriding principle was to create homes within the landscape, and this has driven the architecture and interiors,” says Toby Long, Mirvac’s general manager of residential development NSW, of the verdant development, which comprises four buildings of differing heights that wrap around manicured gardens, allowing sunlight to flood the apartment interiors and a lush canopy to fill their sightlines. “The use of brick lends a warm materiality that blends so beautifully with the majestic fig trees. The design encourages residents to enter through the colonnade and gardens, and this close encounter with nature is incredibly uplifting.”