Architect Callum Fraser of Elenberg Fraser has, with his team of architects, transformed Melbourne’s skyline in a relatively short space of time. At present, there are over 25,000 apartments and 3,000 hotel rooms on Elenberg Fraser’s books, from design to construction phase. And while Melbourne was the starting point for this now large practice, the frontiers have now shifted to also include Vietnam. Speaking from his Melbourne office that extends across an entire floor, Fraser speaks passionately about architecture, as well as his beginnings.
Fraser was adamant as a teenager that he wasn’t going to become an architect like his father, who switched to operating hotels later in his career. “I saw the role of an architect as simply fixing up other people’s problems rather than creating a legacy of the built form. But I could also see the positive side of what architecture could achieve,” says Fraser, who worked for several architectural practices after leaving school while attending RMIT University part-time to complete his architecture degree.鈥�“By the time I finished the course, I wasn’t too keen to work for any more firms, particularly those that offered very little advancement.” But in the 1990s, many architects were driving taxis to survive.
So rather than be found in front of a computer simply documenting the designs of others, Fraser worked with leading architectural photographer John Gollings鈥╢or a couple of years, establishing a digital imaging department. “Architecture is a filmic experience with a strong narrative behind each building,” he says. But in 1998, architecture beckoned with a developer approaching him with a parcel of land to develop at Docklands. “That was the point you could say our practice started,” says Fraser, who, with his partner, architect Zahava Elenberg, began to form a young and energetic team around them.
One of the things the pair realised early in the practice was the omission of architecture within the confines of the CBD. Yes, there were numerous high-rise buildings, but many were generic and offered bland office accommodation to men wearing grey flannel suits. “At that time, a number of city buildings were conceived by draftsmen or those with building qualifications,” says Fraser.
Liberty Tower, the first high-rise apartment building at Spencer Street, put Elenberg Fraser on the radar, proving that city living and design were not only highly compatible, but fundamental for Melbourne to move forward. The 28-level tower, wrapped in perforated steel, provided an industrial aesthetic that responded to the surrounding gritty environment. “We saw the surface (steel screens) as though they’d been punctuated with bullet holes,” says Fraser who, as with all the Elenberg Fraser developments, responded to a time and place in a city’s history.
In contrast to Liberty Tower, the Watergate apartments at Docklands exuded a slightly softer, more genteel suburban feel, expressed in what he coins ‘Regional Modernism’. “Our work is always modern but contextual,” says Fraser, who draws inspiration from a broad cross-section of past creatives including Gio Ponti and Carlo Mollino, as well as the Russian Modernists from the early 20th century.
The Abode318 apartment building in Russell Street, which extends over 57 levels, not only responds to the elements, but also to the slither of a site on which it was built. And as the site鈥╥s relatively narrow, each apartment benefits from unimpeded views. The tower’s wave-like form, with its cantilevered windows, also breaks away from many of the streamlined vertical towers surrounding it. “You can see the expression of each apartment as opposed to looking at one continuous glazed wall,” says Fraser, who sees the importance of articulating individual components within the wider framework. However, Abode318 also responds to the wind, shaping its form to deflect high wind from elevated heights and the impact created at ground level.
While the Elenberg Fraser office is large鈥╥n terms of staff and floor area, it’s made manageable through a series of eight separate teams, each with up to 20 people, all assigned various projects. But unlike the usual hierarchical model, here the leadership is born by talent and ideas, many of which come from recent graduates. Young architects, often in their mid-20s, can lead a project. “There is always a conversation at the start of each process, followed by workshops and teasing out details,” says Fraser.
The architectural models of one tower are carefully lined up on one shelf in the office to show the evolution of design thought. Fraser picks up each form, in turn indicating the subtle changes made in response to environmental and contextual concerns. From the outset of a design process, Fraser, like his colleagues, isn’t driven by what things look like. “It’s about how buildings perform and moving forward with new ideas and technology.”
However, inspiration for a new apartment tower can come from the most unlikely sources. A film clip featuring singer Beyonc茅 gyrating in a full-body stocking can be seen as one source of inspiration for a tower in Spencer Street, a couple of sites away from Liberty Tower. Dubbed ‘Beyonc茅’, this animated building, which is currently under construction, captures not only the moves of a strong and bold performer,鈥╞ut the energy exerted on the glazed surface. “Architecture is about delivering surprises,” Fraser says.