Revised designs for Parramatta build-to-rent tower

Updated designs for a 34-storey build-to-rent tower by Rothelowman have been submitted to the NSW planning department for assessment.

Dubbed "Novus on Harris," the project is proposed for the intersection of Harris and Hassall streets in Parramatta. The tower will accommodate 204 apartments, with a three-storey podium containing retail and wellness spaces.

Rothelowman was chosen for the project following a design excellence competition in 2022.

"The architecture is sympathetic to nature and engages with the environmental and climactic story of its place," the architects said in the design report they submitted to the department. "We explored an alternative approach to tower typologies, to make it local and specific to Parramatta, an architecture that touches the ground lightly."

The competition report stated that "the scheme synthesizes art with architecture and creates an opportunity for deep connection to meaning and memory.

"The architecture is organic with the materials, colours and tone of the facades conceived as though the building itself was crafted from the clay and paperbark directly from the site itself."

Colours drawn from the neighbouring Clay Cliff Creek will feature on the facade of the podium in "a series of ceramic-look tiles."

"The jury highly commended the philosophical response to place and the relationship to the earth and the clay of the site," the competition report stated.

When in operation, the project will emit no net carbon, with units designed to maximize cross-ventilation and minimize energy consumption.