The Victorian government has approved a $300-million tower designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and Plus Architecture.

The tower, located at 582–606 Collins Street in Melbourne’s CBD, will include 420 apartments, retail and office spaces, as well as a public domain comprising a plaza, a publicly accessible terrace, a ground floor art space and a new pedestrian link.

The tower has been designed as a series of stacked volumes, which resemble vases. Each volume tapers towards its base, which serves to break down the verticality of the tower while at the same time creating additional public space where the volumes meet.

A series of sculptural columns surrounds each volume of the building to create uniform facades on all sides. The facade design references and emulates the historic architecture of Melbourne’s CBD, reinterpreting it as filigree colonnades enveloping the building.

The design also establishes uniformity between the podium, tower and surrounding landscape elements. "The design has been defined by Melbourne’s rich and diverse urban landscape, reinterpreted in a contemporary solution driven by the logical division of its overall volume that will enhance the city’s public realm with generous communal spaces," said Zaha Hadid Architects’ Michele Pasca di Magliano.