Project: Luna Apartments
Architects: Elenberg Fraser
Location: Saint Kilda, Melbourne, Australia
Area: 75,347 sf
Photographs by: Peter Clarke
Elenberg Fraser has designed the Luna Apartments building in Saint Kilda in Melbourne, Australia. The design of this building was partially inspired by Princess Leia from Star Wars with her metallic dancer costume. The project features over 75,000 square feet of living spaces that allow its inhabitants to choose how much privacy they want to have.
It has inspired a dedicated fan web-site, generations of fancy-dress costumes and countless YouTube tribute videos, and now a building. That’s right, Luna, Elenberg Fraser’s new four storey residential project on Barkly Street, St Kilda, is based on Princess Leia’s infamous ‘dancing girl’ gold bikini, featured in Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. While Luna’s curvaceous form echoes the draping lines of Leia’s usual white robes, the shimmering gold glass and metal mesh materials are matched perfectly with the colours and textures of the gold brassiere.
Callum says that “the science of the building is the science of perception”. The metallic skin seems almost intangible, hovering between reality and fantasy – a comment on the tension between the interior and exterior self. How much of ourselves do we reveal; what is introverted and what is extraverted?
The kinky scene gave audiences the answer to their poignant question: what is Leia hiding under her robes? Luna was the answer to the ongoing conundrum of apartment life – how do you retain privacy, keep your lights on and still enjoy the view? And like Leia, who overcame the indignation and humiliation of being enslaved as Jabba the Hutt’s dancing girl through her inner strength – Luna is not just a pretty face.
To address privacy, light and visibility issues, we designed an operable shutter system, which surrounds the entire building, protecting the interior and housing a series of lights, which offer residents ultimate control over not only what they see, but what others can see of them! Switching the inside lights on reflects the interior of the apartment onto the windows, and people outside can see in, however leaving the outside lights on illuminates the interior, turning the windows transparent, and people outside are prevented from seeing in by the reflection of the lights on the glass.
Whether you’re pro-voyeurism or antiexhibitionism, at Luna, you can rest assured that people will only be able to see what you let them!
Besides the curvy form, revolutionary lighting system and flesh and bronze façade, Luna is also Elenberg Fraser’s first completed wayfinding and signage project for multi-residential apartments. A red Sith Lightsaber stands guard like a sentinel at Luna’s front entrance, and the red light carries through to the retail arcade directing you to the apartments above. White LED light battens are used in the lobby and throughout the ground floor; we created a dot-dash numbering system to identify the apartments.
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