Building Types and Particular Uses

6.0 BUILDING TYPES AND PARTICULAR USES

Diverse building types and uses characterise many of the neighbourhoods within the study area. Different building types require special consideration with relation to the proposed built form guidelines and controls due to such factors as their respective floor to floor heights and roof types can greatly alter the desired height or FSR control. Building types were therefore identified and analysed to gain an understanding of the area beyond the land use zones identified in the existing planning policies. A comparison of building types with the building uses in the area revealed that mixed-use can occur in many building types and that more discussion about this relationship is needed. This section identifies the building types in the area and their key characteristics. It also addresses the specific conditions relating to mixed-use development within the study area and recommends objectives and provision for future mixed use development.

6.0

6.1 Building Types

Building types are generic building forms used to describe buildings with common three-dimensional form and characteristics. Building types provide a means for understanding and explaining built form character of an area. They also contribute to an understanding of development capacity in relation to the site, its adjacent context and the building use. Building types area defined by: Their relationship to their site, ie. a building may sit in the middle of the site with landscape around it. Their relationship to adjacent buildings, ie. a building may be attached to its neighbour. Their relationship to the street, ie. a building may have a front garden. Their form, including height, bulk, frontage to the street and roof line. Their use or original use, ie. a warehouse that is converted to residential.

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Building Types

6.1

Figure 1 - Detached house, Flinders.

Figure 2 - Detached houses, The Bays.

Figure 3 - Detached house, Surry Hills South.

Figure 4 - Detached house, Potts Point.

Detached House
Characteristics: Typically a freestanding single family dwelling,.and range in size from small cottages to large historical villas (Fig 2); Landscape setting with front and rear garden. Typically pitched roof forms with chimney. Clear front entry and fence defines street edge. Unique building type within the streetscape. Sometimes adapted to other uses, such as Elizabeth Bay House Museum. Historical villas and their gardens:

contribute to the foreshore / landscape setting and provide important visual elements within views from the harbour and other areas, are landmark buildings within the streetscape, enrich the landscape character of streets, and provide a pleasant outlook for surrounding development.

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Building Types

6.1

Figure 1 - Terrace houses, East Sydney.

Figure 2 - Terrace houses, Woolloomooloo.

Figure 3 - 3 storey terrace houses, Surry Hills East.

Figure 4 - Terrace houses, Surry Hills Central.

Terrace
Characteristics: Historically attached single dwellings in a row. Typically two storeys but may be single storey or three storey (Fig 3). Sometimes attics accommodated within a pitched roof form. Attics may be detailed with dormer windows or a skillion roof, particularly at the rear. Party wall, street edge aligned, narrow building frontage. Often ground floor verandah and first floor balcony for exent of frontage between party walls with wrought iron filigree balustrade. Sometimes with habitable basement which sometimes opens to rear garden on sloping sites; Car access, where provided, is generally from a rear laneway. Supporting primarily residential use but sometimes converted to commercial uses or shop fronts at ground levels. Front setbacks ranging from zero (Fig 1) to small setbacks with landscaping. A few terraces have angled frontages. Sometimes form significant lanescapes, where consistent rows of historical rear wings or outhouses are intact. (Fig 4) Consistent rows of terraces contribute to the heritage and character of the area. Parapets and chimnets define roofline. Range in detail, often Victorian, from simple workers houses (Fig. 1), to grand, ornate residences (Fig.3).

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Building Types

6.1

Figure 1 - Warehouse, City Edge.

Figure 2 - Warehouse, Prince Alfred Park.

Figure 3 - Warehouse, Prince Alfred Park.

Figure 4 - Warehouse, City Edge.

Warehouse
Characteristics: Often full site coverage Large footprint buildings Range in height from two storeys in the eastern part of Surry Hills to 6 to 7 storeys along the edge of the Sydney CBD. Tall ground floors approximately 4.5 7 metres (Fig 4). Tall floor to floor heights approximately 4.5 metres. Popular to convert to residential and commercial uses. Deep floor plates do not always support a change of use; other design solutions are required to achieve amenity standards and private open space requirements. Residential conversions often: have communal open space on the roof; accommodate parking above ground; introduce courtyards and/or atrium to resolve deep floor plate considerations; provide inset balconies, where buildings are built to the boundary; incorporate additional set back levels at the top of the existing building form.

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Building Types

6.1

Figure 1 - Old Fitzroy Hotel Theatre, Woolloomooloo.

Figure 2 - Stables Theatre, Darlinghurst East.

Figure 3 - Shed, Woolloomooloo.

Figure 4 - Shed, Darlinghurst East.

Shed
Characteristics: Large, utilitarian, clear span structure often single storey (Fig 3) but may have a mezzanine (Fig 4). Originally supported industrial uses (Fig 3) and some commercial uses such as a smash repair. Adaptable, can accommodate range of uses with clear span requirements, such as theatres (Fig. 1 and 2) Disappearing in the study area. Sheds are often part of a consolidated land holding and represent a high potential for a change in land use and form.

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Building Types

6.1

Figure 1 - Walk-up apartment, Potts Point.

Figure 2 - Walk-up apartment, Darlinghurst West.

Figure 3 - Walk-up apartment, East Sydney.

Figure 4 - Walk-up apartment, Darlinghurst East.

Walk-up Apartment (<4 storeys)

Characteristics: Traditionally two, three, or four storey apartments with a centralised stair, thus called walk-up: as they traditionally do not have a lift. Traditionally arranged with two, four or six units to a floor (ie. six-pack). Art Deco, Interwar flats generally have higher ceilings and therefore floor to floor heights than later models. Primarily pitched roof forms. Narrow side setbacks. This can result in compromised amenity with adjoining development particularly in buildings with a higher number of apartments per floor resulting apartments with single orientation to the side boundary. Traditionally parking was located on the street or at the rear of the site accessed along a driveway to one side. Occasionally parking is located on the ground level under a building supported on columns. Contemporary versions often include a lift and underground parking. Older models have communal open space to the front and rear. More contemporary models privatise the ground floor into individual courtyards. Where new walk-ups are proposed, units should be oriented to the street and the rear garden to minimise privacy and amenity issues with adjacent development.

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Building Types

6.1

Figure 1 - Street retail, Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross.

Figure 2 - Street retail, Crown Street, Surry Hills Central.

Figure 3 - Street retail, Oxford Street.

Figure 4 - Street retail, Oxford Street.

Street Retail
Characteristics: Traditional retail street with fine grain subdivision pattern with narrow lot frontages or shop front divisions, often with continuous awnings. High pedestrian amenity with continous awning for weather protection and visual interest and high levels of social activity (Fig. 4). Party wall construction, street edged aligned (Figure 1 and 4). Typically 2 storeys. New forms may be up to 4 with additional 1 or two storeys setback from the street wall. In some cases, existing buildings significantly exceed this height and become landmarks. Supports a variety of overall uses with the ground floor typically retail/commercial.
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May take the form of shop top housing, where the narrow building frontage is limited to one or two residential storeys above a retail/commercial base (Fig. 1). Vehicle and service access is often via a secondary street frontage or a rear laneway. On-site parking is often limited or non-existent due to narrow frontage.

Building Types

6.1

Figure 1 - Street wall buildings, Prince Alfred Park.

Figure 2 - Street wall buildings, Potts Point.

Figure 3 - Street wall buildings, Potts Point.

Figure 4 - Street wall buildings, City Edge.

Street Wall Buildings

Characteristics: Typically party wall construction, supporting commercial use or mixed-use. Buildings are generally aligned to the street edge and reinforce the spatial defintion of the street. Ideally range in height from 4 to 6 storeys to define well proportioned streets (Fig. 2). Where they exceed this height they oftern punctuate street datum or incorporate space between buildings (Fig. 3). On larger sites upper levels may take the form of an L or T to improve amenity and provide elevated private open space. Where a development defines a block, a perimeter block building reinforces the street edges with a central courtyard often used a private open space but may also be semi-public.
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Ground floor and sometimes first floor utilise the whole site, especially on small narrow sites. On upper levels residential units typically overlook the front and /or rear. Where buildings are excessively deep, lightwells have been used in the past to introduce limited amenity. Lower floors form a podium that is attached to adjoining development and reinforce the street edge with upper floors freestanding, such as, along the eastern side of Macleay Street (FIg. 3). May have narrow building separations but form a consistent scale and edge to the street, such as in Potts Point (Fig. 2).

Building Types

6.1

Figure 1 - Hotel, East Sydney.

Figure 2 - Corner shop, Surry Hills East.

Figure 3 - Corner commercial, Crown St, Surry Hills North.

Figure 4 - Hotel, City Edge.

Corner Shops and Corner Commercial Buildings

Characteristics: Typically party wall construction. Street frontage wraps the corner with equal detailing along both streets. Entries sometime located on both street fontages (Fig 1) or along splay at corner (Fig 2). Where awnings are included they wrap the corner. Sometimes mark the corner with an additional level, higher parapet (Fig 2), or architectural feature such as the domed turrets in Figs 1, 3 & 4. Historically corner shops (Fig. 2) provide daily convenience shopping for the local residents.
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Building Types

6.1

Figure 1 - Commercial block, Prince Alfred Park.

Figure 2 - Commercial block, Woolloomooloo.

Figure 3 - Commercial block on Riley Street, Riley.

Figure 4 - Commercial block, Surry Hills Central.

Commercial Block
Characteristics: Sometimes freestanding (Fig. 1) but may be attached (FIg. 3). Range in height from 2 to 4 storeys. Block form, without articulated roofline. Elevation typically expessed as a freestanding building with little or no reference to streetscape elements such as subdivision patterns, parapets, party walls, and datum lines. Often have a singular entrance marked with a canopy or porticoe (Fig. 1). Typically lack active street edge. Sometimes ground floor elevated above partially underground parking level (Fig. 1 and 4).

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Building Types

6.1

Figure 1 - Separated dual residential blocks, Potts Point.

Figure 2 - Harbour edge residential block, The Bays.

Figure 3 - Residential blocks, The Bays.

Figure 4 - Residential block, The Bays.

Residential Block
Characteristics: Freestanding often located in the centre of the site (FIg. 4). Typically four to ten storeys in height, usually with an internal lift. Lots are typically narrow along the street resulting in narrow building frontage and deeper buildings (Fig. 3). Late 20th Century residential blocks take the form of small towers often sited within a landscape setting (Fig. 1). May also take the form of a slab apartment, where a building form is rectangular in plan and has a limited buiding depth. Units are usually arranged along a corridor with a single or multiple cores (Fig 2) depending on the building length.

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Building Types

6.1

Figure 1 - Street framing towers, William Street.

Figure 2 - Towers, East Sydney.

Figure 3 - Landmark tower, Kings Cross.

Figure 4 - Grouping of towers in plinth, Elizabeth Street, City Edge.

Tower
Characteristics: Freestanding vertically proportioned building over ten storeys with or without a podium. Typically organised around a central core(s). Where towers are stretched into thick rectangular massing, suites/units may be organised along a corridor with single or multiple cores. Generally mixed use with retail/commercial uses in the podium and commercial or residential in the tower. Sometimes vertically zoned into a variety of uses. Podiums relate to the surrounding street edge aligned development, typical of centres (Fig. 3). Podium roofs can be landscaped and used as communal open space. Define the skyline by forming landmarks and visual features. Form an edge to a precinct, where a group of towers are aligned (Fig. 2).

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Building Types

6.1

Figure 1 - Hospital, Civic Precinct.

Figure 2 - Firestation, William Street; Church, Oxford Street.

Figure 3 - Church, Albion Street, Surry Hills North.

Figure 4 - Church, Surry Hills South.

Other
Characteristics: Landmark building or public buildings that are primarily freestanding or part of a campus. Often heritage items. May include churches, schools, hospitals, libraries, fire stations and park structures (gazebos). Traditionally sited in prominent locations such as along important streets or on corners (Fig. 2), in relation to topographic features (i.e. along ridges), or terminating vistas. Often listed as heritage items. May have particular redevelopment issues relating to heritage, streetscape, public perception, development capacity, built form, and landscape character.
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Mixed-Use
6.2 Mixed-Use
Mixed-use as a land use zone can be used to supports a variety of uses within an area. It can reinforce a diverse urban area with a mix of existing uses and limit the occurrence of non-complying uses. Alternatively a mixed-use zone can be used to promote the introduction of additional uses within single use zones, such as recent trend to attract residents into city centres. The SSDCP notes that Development in mixed use areas will be required to include more that one use, unless it is impractical to do so because of site constraints (p.141). Much of the Mixed-Use Zones in the area are characterised by a fine grain distribution of uses (rather than consolidated zones), a range of building types, and heritage. A requirement for all development in this zone to incorporate more than one use may undermine the specific building type characteristics of the area or impact negatively on heritage items. Refer to Section 4.4: Land Use Recommendations. The SSDCP notes that mixed-use development should architecturally express the different functions of the building to achieve a richly articulated faade treatment that enhances the character and diversity of the streetscape (p.143). Within the study area, mixed-use development takes the form of a variety of building types. The integrity of the building types should prevail over the expression of individual building uses. Mixed-use buildings typically integrate uses either horizontally with different uses adjacent to each other or, more commonly, vertically with different uses stacked within the same buildings. Uses generally include a retail or commercial component with a residential component. Objectives To respect the lot pattern and building types within the study area. To reinforce the primary and secondary active frontage areas identified in the Neighbourhood Strategies. To allow for their conversion to a mix of uses where appropriate (ie. warehouse). To ensure adequate residential amenity for residents within the development and on adjacent properties. To manage different uses and their requirements within the development and with neighbouring buildings. General Provisions Ensure development responds to the subdivision, built form and use patterns established by surrounding developments. Ensure the development lot size and shape, can adequate respond to the service, layout and amenity requirements of mixed-use development. (Refer to 7.2: Subdivision - Site Amalgamation) In many DCPs, mixed use buildings are required to have a minimum site frontage (typically 18 to 24m) or site size. While this is a useful tool in areas undergoing a transition of uses (i.e. small lot residential with detached houses to mixed-use), the diversity of lot sizes and building types, combined with heritage values, within the study area does not support this approach. Mixed-use can be accommodated in a variety of building forms. Therefore narrow retail street building could accommodate residential uses on the upper level. The form of the building would result in residential unit(s) that orient habitable rooms to the street and rear boundary to provide adequate amenity and a useful apartment layout. (Refer to figures). Locate active uses along the primary and secondary active frontage areas identified in the Neighbourhood Strategies. Respond to the appropriate building type characteristics. Mixed-use buildings could include the following building types: terraces with commercial premise on ground floor; warehouse and streetwall with ground floor retail or commercial and with upper levels commercial or residential; street retail or corner shops with residential uses above ground floor; residential blocks with commercial component at ground level or home office units; commercial block with the potential to convert to residential uses at levels above ground; and towers with retail, commercial and residential floors in a variety of combinations.

6.2

Minimise potential conflicts between different uses. Refer to Section 7.3: Activity/Use Requirements, Adjacencies between uses. Infill Mixed-Use Streetwall or Street Retail Scenarios The examples below show a selection of possible scenarios for the layout of mixed use buildings.

PLAN

ELEVATION Scenario 1

PLAN

ELEVATION Scenario 2

PLAN

Refer to Section 6.1: Building Types. Provide adequate amenity, including visual and acoustic privacy, to residential uses within and adjacent the site.
Scenario 3

ELEVATION

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