Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and architects Fender Katsalidis win the international design competition for a landmark project at Sydney’s Central Station. The development seeks to rejuvenate the city’s busiest transport interchange with a new, vibrant public realm, and bring two tech-focused office towers with the world’s first AI-driven facade system, powered by 100% renewable energy to Central Business District.

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The design by SOM and Fender Katsalidis is set to transform the western edge of Central Station in Sydney. New commercial buildings and public realm improvements will enhance this southern gateway to the CBD, revitalizing and reconnecting the precinct to the city, and complementing the City of Sydney’s plan to create a third new major civic square. The project is a partnership between developers Dexus and Frasers Property Australia.

The design for Central Place Sydney features two 37-and-39 story commercial towers, woven together by a low-rise building anchoring the development and enlivening the precinct at street level. Landscaped public spaces surround the buildings, enhancing connections between neighboring communities and the city’s most prominent commercial axis.

Located at the southern edge of Henry Deane Plaza, the central building is a dynamic urban form that shapes the precinct’s identity. It ascends in a series of tiers, which are staggered to open up garden terraces and views at each level. The curved sandstone forms respond to the scale and materiality of the precinct’s existing character. The ground floor is highly permeable, accommodating a retail experience that flows into the plaza, while the upper commercial levels will be linked to the new towers to create campus-style floorplates.

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“A place that’s engaging both at street level and in its broader urban context”

“The building anchors the southern edge of the Plaza and combines creative workplaces, collaborative and community spaces, and active ground level retail along an internal pedestrian laneway. We aimed to create a place that’s engaging both at street level and in its broader urban context,” says Scott Duncan, Design Partner at SOM.

A core element of the Tech Central precinct, the project will encompass approximately 150,000 square meters of office and retail space. It will be one of the most sustainable commercial developments in Australia, with workplace environments that integrate nature and a range of amenities.

Distinct shapes read as a family

The architecture evolved from the overall urban planning strategy: two towers are expressed as three individual forms in order to reduce their visual density. Their distinct shapes read as a family, while each tower retains its own identity in terms of height, scale, articulation, and materiality. The building podiums are clearly distinguished from the towers above, each with a height, massing, and material palette that complements adjacent heritage buildings.

The public spaces are designed to allow pedestrians to flow efficiently through and within the precinct. Each floor is conceived as a unique “neighborhood,” connected by winter gardens, mixed-mode environments, light-filled atria, and outdoor terraces. The buildings will be naturally ventilated via operable windows and an automated facade system.

The workspaces are highly flexible, with the possibility to be combined and expanded both within and between floors. These adaptable spaces can accommodate technology companies as they evolve in scale and continuously shape their culture.

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How architecture relates to its environment

The “breathing buildings” concept extends to a holistic consideration of how architecture relates to its environment. The buildings are shaped to mitigate wind forces and admit natural light, while the computer-controlled facade shades the interiors from direct sunlight and reduces heat gain.

Central Place Sydney will be the focal point for the burgeoning Tech Central precinct and civic space, which also includes the new headquarters for software development company Atlassian.

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Copyright Text & Pictures © 2020 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Turf Design Studio wins the Australian Good Design Award in the category Best in Class Architecture & Urban Design with the design for the Central Park Public Domain.

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In 2007, Turf Design Studio together with Jeppe Aagaard Andersen was commissioned by Frasers Property to redesign the public area of the Carlton United Brewery site. Within the framework of collaborative design workshops in Sydney, London and Paris, TURF conceived an expanded and interconnected network of new places – streets, lanes, parks and plazas.

The terrain offered immense possibilities: In the centre was the former C&U brewery, surrounded by a built fabric of some of Sydney’s oldest worker’s cottages, terraces and warehouses. Turf Studio’s aim was to reinterpret and expand the history of the site while creating a new site in Sydney.

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Central Park’s public domain exemplifies how a well-considered and legible public domain framework can both unite a site and restitch a city. At the heart of the site is Chippendale Green; a north-facing park of terraced, sun drenched lawns tucked away from the frenetic pace of the city.

A large public park was always central to the masterplan intent. Orientating the park’s long axis with the frontage of existing Chippendale terraces proved vital in creating a place of meaning and connectedness for the community.

Since its opening in 2012, Central Park has quickly become a popular innovation in city life. From daily walks with dogs or yoga classes, to hosting two-month markets, to numerous major annual events, Central Park has been adopted by the community at all levels.

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“Urban design that is effecting and directing social fabric of the community.“

The jury comments on its decision as follows: “An impressive icon of urban design that has added much to the urban architecture, setting new benchmarks in central urban design and positively effecting and directing social fabric of the community.“

Sustainability principles

Just as good to know: Sustainability was and is at the heart of the Central Park mission, including minimum Five Green Star Certification and the achievement of carbon and water neutrality throughout the project. It was critical that each phase of the development process embraces these sustainability principles and strives for innovation and measurable performance in sustainability.

How to create a public park, which shows proud its past legacy as an industrial area and additionally works as a purification basin for rainwater? The Turf Design Studio & Environmental Partnership has done this task so well, they were awarded with the 2016 AAP American Architecture Prize in the category of landscape architecture. The Sydney Park is now part of Sydney’s Decentralised Water Masterplan, which is specifically focused on reducing the City’s potable water demand by 10% before 2030.

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From waste disposal to popular parkland

In the past two decades, the area has transformed from its industrial and landfill utilisation, into a popular recreation area for the residents of the growing communities of Sydney’s south east. With its 44 hectares, the Sydney Park is the third largest public park in the inner-city of Sydney. In the nineties, the site was famous for its subcultural music activities, which culminates into big rock festivals during the noughties. The area is still a cultural place today, but in a more quiet and relaxing way. Mixing planting and greenspaces with historic remains from smokestacks and factories, the Sydney Park is combining urban and natural environments.

Park with a purpose

When the urban planners searched for places to implement the Decentralised Water Masterplan, they found an ideal place at this site. Originally a swamp, you can find depressions, where storm water flows automatically. The Turf Design Studio & Environmental Partnership developed a water management system to harvesting urban waste water and improving water quality. Also, they designed a few cascades to overcome the difference in altitude and creating natural rapids. Today, the newly created wetlands not only capture and cleans the measure of 340 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth per annum, but shows the visitor a part of the natural circulation of water. With its thriving fauna and flora, the Sydney Park is educating the community about the interdependent of urban and natural environments.