According to CKDS Director, Stuart Campbell, the design of Verve aimed to bring a sustainable and distinguished presence to Newcastle’s streetscape and skyline.

“We saw our role as bringing a considered response to the scale and character of the site and the area’s evolving urbanity. The design consists of two, 19-storey, north-facing slender towers with a small footprint and a linear landscaped podium addressing King Street to help create generous public and communal landscape spaces,” Stuart said.

“We carried out extensive consultation to create a highly liveable and functional place while also achieving ‘Design Excellence’ under the Newcastle Local Environment Plan (LEP),” he said.

“Good architectural design is about gaining maximum benefit within a given space. The CKDS team is always focused on getting the balance right between innovative design, commercial considerations and sustainability.”

“At Verve, there is solar connection throughout, with splayed balconies and articulation of the base meaning that many apartments enjoy corner positions, with extended sunshine and extensive views,” he concluded.

Stuart said community connectivity and recognition of history and place was also an important design element.

“As an urban gesture, the King Street façade presents a horizontal street-wall arrangement with a grand opening echoing the stratification of Newcastle’s mining history. While the primary frontage is King Street, the north-east boundary adjoins Cottage Creek which will become an important public connection between King and Hunter streets extending northward to the harbour front, and southward to National Park.

“It was an honour to work on such an iconic project that will play an important role in the revitalisation of Newcastle’s West End,” he said.

The Awards’ Jury Chair Sam Crawford, of Sam Crawford Architects, said the culture of design in Newcastle is evidently very strong and that this year’s entries were of the highest calibre, highlighting the diversity of work being undertaken in the region.

“The award-winning projects showcase the extraordinary breadth of talent in the Newcastle architecture community and the ingenuity of local architects working within constrained budgets.,” Sam said.

These awards as in addition to previous accolades received by CKDS having taken out two awards at both the 2019 and 2018 Australian Institute of Architecture Awards.