Where Japanese-inspired calm meets inner city living: Inside AURA at Melbourne Square

AT A GLANCE: 

• Developer: OSK Property
• Architect: Cox Architects
• Address: 7 Hoff Boulevard, Southbank, VIC 3006
• No. of Residences: 673
• Estimated Completion Date: 2030

OSK Property has unveiled AURA, the next chapter in their $3.5 billion Melbourne Square precinct in Southbank.

At 67 storeys and 673 homes, the $800 million development is a substantial building. But what makes it worth paying attention to is something harder to quantify: a genuine design philosophy that runs from the front door of each home all the way to the wellness sanctuary on Level 66.

A design philosophy rooted in two landscapes

AURA’s interiors are the work of architecture and interior design practice DKO, led by director Isabel Munro, who describes the approach as a meditation on the rhythms of time itself. Japanese principles of calm, clarity, and crafted simplicity meet materials drawn from the natural beauty of the Australian landscape with warm timbers, stone, and organic textures.

That sensibility starts the moment you arrive home. Many residences include a genkan – a Japanese-inspired entry station for shoes and keys – a small detail that signals a larger intention: the transition from city to sanctuary is designed in, not incidental. Colour palettes carry names like Wattle Gold, Banksia Bronze, and Tea-Tree Bark, each reflecting the natural material palette that the whole development is built around.

Cox Architecture’s exterior draws on the grid-like minimalism of New York and Tokyo, giving AURA a distinct identity within the Melbourne Square skyline.

The development is also targeting WELL for Residential certification – an internationally recognised standard for buildings designed around the health and wellbeing of the people who live in them.

A vertical wellness ecosystem

AURA introduces what OSK Property is calling a vertical wellness ecosystem: wellness amenity tiered across five dedicated levels, each with its own character.

The AURA Club on Level 7 is available to all residents, and it’s where daily life finds its rhythm. Picture your morning: a swim in the 25-metre heated pool, followed by a cold plunge and hot spa, before a Reformer Pilates class or a session in the yoga room. The well-equipped gym is there when you want intensity; the sauna and steam room when you need to wind down. When work calls, the co-working library and dedicated WFH spaces let you draw a clean line between home and office without leaving the building. The golf simulator, games lounge, media room, and music room mean evenings have options too. Step outside and the Japanese-inspired Tea House sits within lush landscaped gardens, a genuine pause from the city below.

Higher up, the Meridian Club on Levels 49-50 shifts the mood. A sweeping lounge bar, conservatory, and two private dining rooms make it the place to host, whether that’s a quiet dinner or an evening with neighbours that runs longer than planned.

And for residents of the upper floors, the Cumulus Club on Levels 66–67 is a sky-high sanctuary in the truest sense. A dedicated yoga and breathwork room, meditation and sound therapy room, private sauna, private soak room, couples’ treatment suite, and a private salon sit alongside serene lounges and an open-to-sky glasshouse centring on a rare native Wollemi Pine. At this height, the views across the Arts Precinct and Melbourne CBD are not a backdrop, but rather part of the experience.

“AURA stands tall as an exemplar of holistic wellness – its focus on social, physical, and mental health culminates in a building that is calming, restorative, and relaxing, where residents will have their own sanctuary within the well-connected and sought-after Southbank.”

Chong Boon Woon, CEO of OSK Property Australia

Life in the Melbourne Square precinct

AURA is the gateway building to Melbourne Square, a precinct that already has genuine community infrastructure in place: 3,745 sqm Kennedy Park, Southbank’s first full-line Woolworths, Nido Early School, and a growing Hoff Boulevard retail strip.

Located adjacent to the Arts Precinct, AURA residents will be just a short stroll from the NGV, Royal Botanic Gardens, Hamer Hall, and the Yarra riverside with The Crown Casino Entertainment Complex. Close proximity to Port Phillip Bay, St Kilda beach, and Port Melbourne Beach further elevate your lifestyle here, while allowing for both bay and city views. Here, the city’s best are truly moments away.

Construction is scheduled to commence late 2026 at AURA, with completion targeted for 2030.

What’s available

AURA offers studios and one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes across its 67 levels, with most residences featuring balconies and views across the CBD, Kennedy Park, Docklands, the Royal Botanic Gardens, and the Arts Precinct.

Many configurations also include a multi-purpose room, flexible as a home office, guest room, or study. Upper-level Alta Residences and Halo Penthouses are finished with premium Gaggenau appliances and stone benchtops, while all other residences feature Bosch appliances and granite or Dekton benchtops.

Prices start from $579,000 for a studio.

Click here to learn more or to enquire about AURA at Melbourne Square.