Barangaroo Office Towers, Sydney Waterfront Buildings, Competition, Architect, Property News

Barangaroo South, Sydney : Office Tower Buildings

Barangaroo South Office Towers design by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

15 Feb 2011

Barangaroo Office Towers

Designing Sydney’s Best Buildings for Barangaroo South

The designs for the first of the three office towers at Barangaroo South have been further refined. Its tapered and curved profile creates a more elegant and streamlined appearance, improves the spaces and relationship between the towers and the views through and from within the buildings.

image courtesy of Lend Lease

The designers, Ivan Harbour and Lord Richard Rogers, of the internationally acclaimed architectural firm, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners of London, together with input from Australian architect Ken Maher, Chairman of Hassell, have taken the plans forward to create a truly world class office, Lend Lease’s Group Head of Development David Hutton said today.

“Importantly these refinements support the original leading sustainability outcomes and maintain the provision of large, clear and flexible workspaces that Sydney needs to attract and retain leading domestic and international financial services businesses to support the city’s growth,” Mr Hutton added.

He noted that everything at Barangaroo has always been driven by the desire to make it the best it can possibly be and that the refinements reflected further detailed thinking by the design team on the feedback received, including comments from the City of Sydney. “We have responded to Council’s comments and introduced refinements that improve the scale and appearance of the building and we have produced an even better result,” he said.

“Barangaroo South is designed to strengthen Sydney’s reputation as an innovative professional and financial services hub. It is destined to become Australia’s premier – and most sustainable – business address as well as one of the most dynamic and attractive places to work.”

images courtesy of Lend Lease

The building, currently known as C4, and Barangaroo South benefit from an innovative shared basement. The design, technology, and infrastructure included in the basement will improve environmental outcomes. C4 will be carbon neutral by reducing energy use by around 75% and using new off-site renewable energy sources. It will also recycle its water and direct the vast majority of its waste away from landfill when compared to a typical Sydney office building.

The refined design for building C4 forms part of Lend Lease’s Preferred Project Report (PPR), which sets out the refinements, explanations and undertakings that have been made in response to the questions and issues raised during the public exhibition period. A total of 20 submissions were received from members of the public, eight of which were in support of the C4 Project Application. Seven submissions were also received from government agencies and councils, including one from the City of Sydney. The PPR is available to view on the Department of Planning website at www.planning.nsw.gov.au.

Barangaroo South images / information from Lend Lease

Barangaroo South – Office Towers : Further Information

C4 at a Glance

The C4 Commercial building represents a new model for offices of the future designed to meet the needs of the world’s most progressive businesses including:
– large, clear and open floor plates that improve productivity and communication;
– healthier and more attractive environments that provide great places to be and to work;
– connected and accessible locations that offer immediate access to quality amenities;
– flexible workspace that is adapted to the latest working practices and business models;
– the most advanced environmental and sustainability outcomes.
The C4 Commercial building will achieve a 6-Star Green Star rating and take advantage of shared, precinct-wide infrastructure and services to deliver a carbon neutral, water positive and zero waste outcome.

Height:
• 176.5 metres (42 storeys)

Gross Floor Area (GFA):
• Maximum 98,514 m2 GFA accommodating:
– 7,010 m2 retail floor space
– 88,582 m2 commercial floor space
– 916 m2 office lobby
– 2,006 m2 childcare centre

Basement:
• Shared precinct wide infrastructure and below ground access for services and deliveries
• 168 car spaces
• 690 bicycle spaces (563 in the basement and 127 visitor spaces on grade)

Completion: expected 2014

Summary of Key Design changes for C4

Without compromising the commercial viability of the floor plate areas of C4, the issues of the building’s bulk, length and width have been addressed through refinements to the shape of the floor plates and the relationship between the core and the floor areas. These refinements can be summarised as follows:

• The overall width of the building has been reduced by approximately 6m (approximately 11% reduction)

• The length of the building has been reorganised into a simple, but more powerful, tripartite composition

• The plan form tapers and curves to further reduce the apparent bulk of the building

Specific Design Changes

1. Reduction in the number of lifts per bank from nine to eight, which has enabled a reduction in the depth of the lift core from 15m to 12m

2. Replacing the projecting bay on the southern elevation with a recessed bay, which reduces building width

3. Tapering and curving the edges of the building, which foreshortens the appearance of the building when viewed from the north and south

4. Integration of the vertical villages from either side of the lift cores to within the lift cores. It also reduces the length of the core by about 20m (40%) and creates a simpler vertical division of the facade

5. The 24m protruding east and west “prows” have been replaced with narrower integrated facades with curved corners and each facade incorporating a 15m indent housing solar shading. This reduces actual and apparent width of the building.

6. Introduction of a recessed structural bracing element to the central third of the southern elevation, which improves scale and, together with the curved edges, reduces the building’s perceived length

7. Re-orientation of the lobbies so that the entrances are on the southern facades, improving permeability and the architectural variety of the podium buildings

Barangaroo Waterfront Development

More than just a project for Sydney, the NSW Government considers Barangaroo a site of State significance and will retain ownership and control to ensure that its renewal is managed for, and on behalf of, the public of New South Wales.

image courtesy of Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, Sydney Australia
Barangaroo Sydney