Leading Architect Designs House-Sized Apartments in Response to Demand for Larger Living Spaces

With construction to start in the first half of this year 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.

Maasra Apartments is centrally located in the city-fringe hot-spot suburb of Coorparoo, on the site bound by Old Cleveland Road, Holdsworth Street and St Leonards Street.

At just 4km from Brisbane’s CBD, with excellent public transport on its doorstep and easy connection to main roads, Maasra Apartments offers residents a lifestyle of greater convenience.

The building features a podium recreational space with multiple entertainment areas, including a 25-metre pool with timber decking, sunbeds, beautiful landscaped surrounds, a residents’ lounge, a gymnasium, boutique retail on the ground floor and commercial office space on level one.

Maasra’s two, three and four-bedroom apartments are available in a variety of floor plans designed to offer contemporary living and are priced from $435,000 to $1.7 million, with construction expected to begin this year.

For sales information go to https://www.maasraapartments.com.au/ , phone TOTAL Property Group on 1300 393 855 or visit Maasra Apartments’ sales and display centre, open 10am-3pm seven days a week, on the corner of Holdsworth Street and St Leonards Street, Coorparoo.