According to a statement from developer Sunland, the towers in the Grace on Coronation project – ranging from 22 to 25 storeys - would collectively include 486 apartments and eight riverfront villas.

Sunland's proposal asks for 635 car parks, with about half of the 1.5 hectare site set aside for landscaped parklands.

The land was sold to the Sunland Group in 2013 for $20 million after being abandoned in 2006 after a cancer cluster scare.

Seventeen women who had worked at the site were diagnosed with breast cancer.

Sunland, which was behind the Gold Coast's Q1 apartment towers and the Palazzo Versace Hotel, has promised to protect the heritage-listed Middenbury house which is located on the same riverside park.

The Middenbury home appears to be set aside in a park at the front of the parcel of land, with the three apartment towers behind the heritage-listed home.

Middenbury, built in the 1860s and heritage listed in July, could become a cafe or gallery, although its future remains unknown.

Brisbane City Council is yet to consider the proposal for the $420 million residential tower development, named Grace on Coronation.

The application will be lodged on Monday, but the demolition of the now-abandoned ABC studios is expected to start this month.

The council will be asked to consider how Sunland's futuristic design fits an older residential and historic part of the city.

However, the company's architects and design team have had a series of pre-lodgement meetings with the council's neighbourhood assessment officers.

Sunland managing director Sahba Abedian said the proposed development would breathe new life into the historic riverfront site.

"Our vision is to create a vibrant urban village which sensitively activates its urban and riverfront context through compelling architecture and landscape design," Mr Abedian said.

"Importantly, it is a vision that opens up the site to the broader community through the creation of expansive public parklands, a riverside viewing platform and the transformation of Middenbury into a meaningful public space."

Mr Abedian said each of the three residential towers would feature a unique multi-layer facade design comprising a curtain wall glazing, overlayed with a quilted diamond pattern made from glass reinforced concrete.

"The result is an organic, sculptural design reminiscent of a flower in bloom," he said.

"The smoothness and elegance of the design is unlike anything Brisbane — or Australia — has ever seen."

Community consultation will be part of the application process, Sunland said on Monday morning.

The concept has been designed by Zaha Hadid, the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the founder of Zaha Hadid Architects.

"The design tapers each structure to minimise their footprint and open the riverfront to the public to create a vibrant civic space for Toowong within a new riverside park," she said.

• Comment at the Brisbane Times