Developer & Leading Architect Create House-Sized Apartments In Response to Market Demand

With construction expected to start soon on the $95m Maasra Apartments in Coorparoo, award-winning architectural firm HAL Architects is finalising the blueprints to incorporate the redesign of a number of units into house-size apartments to accommodate buyers’ changing needs.

HAL Architects was appointed by Maasra Apartments developer Karam Group to design a building that reflected a sense of community and place, with a focus on large three and four-bedroom apartments to offer wider housing choices for people considering apartment living.

Further requests for even-larger spaces have been agreed to, with a number of adjoining apartments now being combined to create house-sized dwellings within the apartment building.

HAL Architects Director Elizabeth Anderson said Maasra Apartments was a fine example of how developers were responding to a changing residential landscape, meeting demands for larger living spaces accompanied with retail and business environments.

“Karam Group has an appreciation of the importance of good design, and they wanted Maasra Apartments to go that step further by enhancing Coorparoo’s transformation into a hub for boutique retail and dining,” she said.

Ms Anderson and her team specialise in designing spaces for liveability and are well known for their creativity and architectural excellence in designing multi-residential developments in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Karam Group’s brief for the Maasra Apartments building was to encompass Coorparoo’s history and enhance the village-like atmosphere, using a “maasra” – a Mediterranean olive press – as the theme for the building design.

“To express that in architectural form, we looked at the olive press and thought; this development is about authenticity, it’s about honesty and community,” Ms Anderson added.

“All those ideas are entrenched in the design of Maasra Apartments, in everything from the finishes through to the layouts, from the sense of space to the large over-sized kitchens – the design is very much about liveability.

“And of course, materiality; the materials selected are stylish, honest and robust with a longevity to them and a quality you can feel – beautiful stone kitchen finishes and timber veneers that express warmth and a sense of home.”

Raised in Brisbane, Ms Anderson is one of three directors and a part owner of HAL Architects- Hayes Anderson Lynch Architects, established more than four decades ago as Kevin Hayes Architects.

She was recently awarded a Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, has been a Jury Coordinator for Brisbane Regional Architectural Award, is a Queensland Development Tribunal Referee and makes appearances as an Architectural and Visual Amenity Expert Witness in the Queensland Planning and Environment Court.

HAL Architects has won many national and international awards, including UDIA Excellence Awards, UIA International Union of Architects Awards plus a number of RAIA Queensland Architecture Awards, with Ms Anderson also receiving a Women in Business Award and a National Association of Women in Construction Award.

HAL Architects’ Brisbane work includes the $65m mixed-use boutique apartment building The Wellington in East Brisbane and the $37m Willow residential apartments at Kangaroo Point.