Description:

In the heart of Auckland's Morningside, Aalto stands as a testament to communal living, its entire top floor a shared sanctuary for residents. This seven-storey, brick beauty, home to 39 apartments and 112 bike spaces — and notably sans car parks — is a bold statement in urban development.

The communal spaces are the centrepiece of this development, the resident's hub commands the prime spot in the building. At Aalto’s opening, local MP Chlöe Swarbrick, opined: “When I look out at the view from this phenomenal shared space, I’m presented with a massive amount of potential for Tāmaki Makaurau. What we have here is proof of concept. If we want to sell a vision of density done well, we need to spread this idea of shared collective penthouses for everybody!"

Aalto sits proudly on a ridge providing expansive views of the city from the apartments and community spaces alike. Crafted from a rich and earthy clay brick, with maroon glazed brick highlights the building facade shifts and morphs through-out the day, changing from a deep dark purple in the shade to golden bronze hues in the sun. The building is topped with a glistening black brick communal penthouse, home to a sun soaked residents' lounge and kitchen, a wrap-around deck with expansive views, a work-from-home office, and a bookable guest room for visiting friends and whanau to stay.

It is also a core principle that we build where people want to live and nearby public transport. Aalto is located just 3.3km from the CBD, a short stroll from Morningside Train Station and Northwestern Cycleway. Carparkless, Aalto has one Cityhop hybrid shared vehicle. The building prioritizes cycling facilities for residents with a dedicated bike lift and over 100 bike parks and e-charging stations in the basement.

Aalto carves out possibilities for its residents, a feature sometimes overlooked in urban rejuvenation. It helps older people downsize and extends an invitation for the youth to anchor themselves in neighborhoods they want to call home. It guards against socio-economic segregation and most importantly enhances density, because that’s how we get our mass transit and cycle networks working.

Aalto represents a future vision for Auckland, a quality compact city. It shows it is possible to build good apartments and communities, in great areas, that do not cost the earth.

And a nice sidenote, while the site was being excavated we noticed how beautiful the clay was. The 39 new owners of Aalto received a unique housewarming gift – a special limited edition vase made by ceramicist Ben Pyne, forged from the very earth Aalto is built upon.