The projects were designed to maximise daylight, natural air, privacy, and communal space.
While incorporating dramatic stepped profiles, private landscaped terraces, and public garden amenities at multiple levels, each bespoke response reflects their respective site, geography, climate, and culture.
Altair Residences (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
Altair’s pair of towers – one leaning upon the other – provides each unit with cross ventilation, balanced diffusion of sunlight and unparalleled views of Beira Lake, the Indian Ocean, and the surrounding city.
The 400-unit residential complex takes full advantage of the site with an innovative two-leg structural design comprising two tower blocks of 63 and 69 storeys. The staggered and stepped formation of the leaning towers creates a cascade of large garden terraces facing Beira Lake at each level.
The structure allows for a permeable façade with large windows and openings, access to balconies, and units that feature individual roof gardens or terraces. Both towers are planned with through-unit, column-free interiors featuring open plans.
Expansive community gardens and shared outdoor spaces are strategically placed within the building, with a communal sky garden crowning the shorter tower at the 63rd floor. The complex will contribute to the public life of the city by offering more than 56,000 sq m (600,000 sq ft) of public space including a retail arcade and a waterfront promenade on the ground level, with additional retail spaces overlooking Beira Lake on the mezzanine level.
At 240m at its highest point, Altair will be the island nation’s tallest residential building and the first skyscraper to be completed in the rapidly developing city of Colombo.
Qorner Tower (Quito, Ecuador)
Overlooking Quito’s La Carolina Park, the 24-storey Qorner Tower maximises the potential of its small site.
Generous double-height landscaped terraces are created on each level, with natural shading provided by the protruding terraces above. Operable glass walls open directly onto the landscaped terraces, providing multidirectional views of the park and surrounding mountainous landscape.
Creating a dramatic profile within the city’s skyline, Qorner merges indoor and outdoor living to take full advantage of Quito’s year-round temperate weather. In contrast to the stepping façades on the east and west faces of the tower, the north and south structural walls remain vertical. Walls are punctuated by large square windows with sliding glass doors and 'Juliet' railings, providing natural cross-ventilation in all units.
In response to the seismic conditions of Quito, the project’s structure is designed around a perimeter concrete frame stabilised by a robust shear-wall concrete core. There are no internal columns in the apartments, which allows for greater interior planning flexibility and units that easily combine.
At the base, the tower is set back from the street creating a generous landscaped sidewalk, with retail opening to the surrounding streets. The roof offers a tree-lined infinity edge swimming pool, garden, and gathering space for the residents. A dramatic vertical living wall of native planting extends the full height of the north facade.
Habitat Qinhuangdao (China)
Set between the urban density of the city and the coastline of the Bohai Sea, Habitat Qinhuangdao is organised into a series of linked residential blocks along the shore.
Conceived to accommodate increased density, stepped and staggered buildings provide units with private terraces, balconies, and solariums. Porous residential blocks of 16 stories each are designed to create large 'urban windows' that frame views to the sea, provide spaces for community, and offer a sense of openness.
Enhancing and extending the garden environment at the base of the Phase I towers, four ground level gardens – each an interpretation of Qinhuangdao’s natural landscape – will offer distinct experiences for the residents.
Interactive children’s playgrounds, a landscaped amphitheatre, planted promenades and a system of ponds, fountains and streams are deployed across the development. Additional communal gardens and pool areas are created at the upper levels of the buildings and atop the link bridges, which connect the terraced buildings.
Adding 1,000 units distributed across two, 30-storey terraced buildings, Phase II doubles the initial development which opened in 2017, completing the original residential concept for the project. Future phases of the development, consisting of a pair of residential towers and a retail complex, are currently in design.
To celebrate the start of Phase II, Kerry Properties commissioned the film 'Habitat in Nature.' The film is an investigation into how the initial ideas of Habitat ’67 have evolved and adapted to inform and inspire Habitat Qinhuangdao.