Melbourne's Neue Grand apartments might just have the best views in town, says architect Shane Rothe

Full-floor living is the new frontier in the luxury apartment market. These entire-floor apartments tend to not only surprise buyers with their generous space, but also challenge their perception that apartments are restricted living environments.

With their expansive living zones and spacious bedrooms, these huge apartments also have the bonus of acting as a handy next step for those transitioning from houses. The sheer amount of space available in full-floor apartments often gives residents the same, if not more, space.

Melbourne’s 20-storey Neue Grand apartment tower by developer Growland is setting a benchmark for full-floor apartment living.
Each of the 18 opulent apartments in the St Kilda Road development occupies a full-floor ranging from 319.1 square metres to 710.8 square metres.

Shane Rothe, founding principal and director at architecture firm Rothelowman, says Neue Grand sets itself apart from many projects on the luxury market by offering only full-floor apartments.

“What excites me as an architect is working on a project where it is large in scale, but boutique in nature,” he says. “I think a 20-storey building with only 18 apartments is unusual. Normally with a 20-storey building of this size, you might have 100 apartments.

“But because these are larger scale apartments and there’s only one per floor, it becomes more boutique because there are fewer occupants in the building, so you have fewer neighbours.

“Having a single floor where you’re the only occupant of the floor, I think it feels more secure and more like a home.”

With views to enjoy from the floor-to-ceiling windows from the entire perimeter of the apartments, residents will also be spoilt for choice.

“When you have a whole floor apartment, you see the Dandenongs, you see the bay, you see the city, you see the lake – it doesn’t matter where you are in that floor plate, you have got a view,” he says. “I think that’s rare. So these apartments have everything you’d expect of a quality space.”

Another show-stopping detail of the project is the sky garages. As the name implies, these garages will be located at the heights of the apartments. Cars will be carried upwards in German-designed auto-lifts to each apartment and parked in glass display cases.

The penthouse features four lofty car spaces and two more in the basement, while the remaining 17 apartments will have two sky garages and one basement car space each.

While access to the apartments is private, there are also shared spaces for residents to socialise such as a gym, private lounge, dining room and a 24-hour concierge.