How global design trends are shaping Australia’s luxury apartment market

International trends have long played a part in Australian design, and that cosmopolitan influence is evident across today’s luxury developments.

From Mediterranean-inspired waterfront residences in Sydney to Melbourne penthouses that channel New York’s industrial-chic aesthetic, these projects merge global trends with Australian materials, landscapes and lifestyles.

“Global references are the start of an idea, to look around at what other people are doing, to then put that into our own context and to understand how we can then challenge that or build on that or put that into an Australian context,” explains Edward Pearse, director at developer Time & Place. 

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“We wouldn’t want to lift a building out of New York and put it into Melbourne – we want to lift some concepts and make them Australian.”

With its angular exterior, Time & Place’s Queensbridge Building in Melbourne’s Southbank has earned obvious comparisons to Manhattan’s famous Flatiron Building.

While the latter is wedged between Fifth Avenue and Broadway, the form of Queensbridge was largely dictated by the triangular site where Queens Bridge Street, Kings Way and City Road meet.

The similarities continue with tall rectangular windows that create a gridded look reminiscent of New York skyscrapers. In the tradition of hotel-style apartments, there’s also the installation of the 188-room Hannah St Hotel, which will occupy 12 floors of the 66-level high-rise. 

“When you reference New York or London, what is one of the more elevated ways of living in New York? It’s to live within a hotel – to live within The Plaza, or in London beside Claridge’s,” Pearse says.

“So we’ll have great entertainment and bars and restaurants on the ground floor – it’s active and it’s kind of an exciting place to be.”

At AVRA Bondi Beach by developer Clutch, designers have integrated an aesthetic borrowed from Mediterranean villas into the famed Sydney location.

Champagne quartzite benchtops and dark bronze metal accents created by interior designers Woods Bagot deliver a luxe look in each of the 18 waterfront residences.

Agent Ben Stewart says the blend of global and local has resonated with buyers.

“Eleven out of the 18 have sold, so it’s been very well received by local people in the east and throughout Sydney,” he says. “They loved the architecture and obviously the finishes.”

Back in Melbourne, the rich detailing of Portuguese and Mexican architecture has played a part in the design at Como Terraces in South Yarra. Sited on a sloping block overlooking the city’s iconic Yarra River/Birrarung, the team at Carr looked to Europe for functionality cues.

“Como Terraces is a series of buildings that wander up the hill,” says Carr director David Brooks. “One of the inspirations really was European hilltop villages where you wind upwards.

“No building is aligned with another building, so you get all these interesting glimpses through them and these plazas with organic shapes.”

The European theme extends inwards with bronze accents and dark timber work throughout the interiors. 

But it’s distinctly Aussie, too: With the river being so close, landscaping architecture firm TCL has selected plants to link into the native greenery of the river corridor. The result is a best-of-both-worlds design.