Circular windows dominate the staggered brick facades of this apartment block designed by Australian practice BKK Architects for the Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe East.

Local studio BKK Architects designed the 44-apartment block for a steeply sloping site in a residential neighbourhood located around 10 kilometres northeast of the city's central business district.
Six porthole windows provide the focal point for the Cirqua Apartments, which are made up from staggered grey brick boxes that break up the bulk of the development.

The windows span almost the full height of six cubes that project towards the street, flooding the interior living spaces with natural light.

"The building facades are highly articulated to reduce the overall building's mass and present a smaller scale," explained the architects. "The design draws on the materiality and expression of local, historical housing types that are reinterpreted in a contemporary manner."
"The design has been carried out to provide a strong sense of address for tenants whilst maintaining a street rhythm and scale that stitches the project into its context," they added.
"Generous glazing maximises connections to the surrounding garden, with significant landscaping integrated into the design, capturing the 'garden city' essence of Ivanhoe."

The interiors are neutrally finished, with ribbed timber and grey carpeting lining the communal spaces, and circular light fittings ec...