The Valley, like other inner city suburbs of Brisbane, is expanding. The newly stated Urban Vision allows up to 30 storey towers within its heart; a confronting proposal in the Valley’s current low-rise landscape. How can increased density have a positive effect on our urban environment? Can an architecture extend the public realm rather than diminish it? Can intense urban densification spawn new socio-spatial relationships?

This investigation examines a hybrid ‘combined use’ typology of vertically stacked shop houses and home offices, blurring realms to challenge our perception of normative high-rise habitation. A grand public stair invites pedestrians, twisting through a Fashion and Textile School to a raised urban meeting place. A vertical topography continues as a navigation device, exploring an ascent of intimate social spaces interfacing with ‘hole in the wall’ businesses. The vertical street establishes a ‘soho’ precinct where education, work, rest and play combine.