Opened by Green Party MPs Chlöe Swarbrick and Ricardo Menéndez, Aalto paves the way for what sustainable urban living could look like in central Auckland. Intelligent design has transformed one dwelling into 39, with a shared penthouse residents lounge, work-from-home office and bookable guestroom. Instead of housing cars, the basement has an abundance of bike storage.

“Projects like this are leading the way in reimagining what our city can look like. Communal spaces which encourage people to build communities where they live and to break this idea that density has to be ugly. Actually, density can be beautiful, it can be aesthetically pleasant…” says Ricardo Menèndez.

Challenges: Basement, high groundwater level and brick façade

Continuing their strategic design, Ockham Residential developed downwards creating a basement and additional storage for future occupants. The basement provided an exciting challenge for our structural engineering team as the building was located in close proximity to the boundary which meant designing a temporary restraint of soil surrounding the basement excavation and construction was required. Due to the presence of ground water level within the basement depth the excavation and construction of the basement would require continuous dewatering by expensive pumping.

The six storeys of complex brick façade required engineering from our structural team.