Image Credit : John Gollings
Andrew Chung
Project Overview
The ANZ tower is a forty-four storey commercial tower located in the heart of Sydney CBD. The premium grade tower has dual frontages to 161 Castlereagh Street and 242 Pitt Street and is one of the five sites that form Liberty Place. At the base of ANZ tower, a 16m high glazed foyer volume announces the entry to the commercial tower. The tower is completed by an iconic roof feature which is conceived as an element to capture and break light at the top of the tower. The roof feature frames the key north-eastern elevation. The intent is to provide a dramatic addition and ever changing expression to the city skyline. The foyer is enclosed by suspended walls of translucent glass fixed from an innovative system of high tension stainless steel cables and custom patch fittings. The translucent glass walls continue inside creating a significant and dramatic interior space. The internal glass walls are rear illuminated, using an advanced system of led backlighting. A suspended white ceiling appears to float within the space and completes the architectural expression of the enclosing box. Within this enclosure a combination of rectilinear and sculptural elements define and organise the space
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Richard Francis-Jones, Jeff Morehen, Sean McPeake, Richard Desgrand, Johnathan Redman, Joseph Pirrello, David Caleo, Jason Veale, James Kral, Barbara Flynn, Mark Relf, Ben White, Brendan Bennett, Sandro Razzi, James Phillips, Susan Freeman, Grahame Barnes, Ian Hanna.
Project Brief
The ANZ tower with its distinctive sinuous form and striking glass-walled facade has seamlessly redefined the city skyline. The tower has become an iconic reference point, with a rooftop feature thats dramatically captures and breaks the light. With a 6 Star Green Star (Office Design V2) rating, this Premium Grade 44 storey commercial tower accommodates approximately 57,000 sqm of commercial NLA with efficient floor plates with access to outstanding views for occupants. The tower also includes elegant penthouse apartments on level 43 and 44.
The 2,750sqm space at the base of the tower invites the energy of the city into the development, consisting of a retail and dining precinct, public open spaces, a sunlit plaza and pedestrian lane way connecting Castlereagh Street and Pitt Street.
The light-filled pedestrian lane way provides a unique ground plane and entry into the commercial tower. Enhancement of the public domain and provision of a new “pedestrian street” provides a valuable mid-block city link and connections to address the wider city environs.
Project Innovation/Need
The ANZ tower successfully balances urbanism and sustainability considerations with commercial requirements to create a rich and considered architectural expression. The development creates a major new public space for Sydney, reinvigorating a previously run down portion of the city with a design which emphasises the public domain with a richness of activity, life and spatial and architectural interest.
Combining a significant offering of Premium Grade commercial space with attractive public spaces and high quality retail, the development provides an enabling, flexible and human environment for workers and visitors. The through site link, associated lane way and public plaza provides a unique ground plane and entry to a commercial building, and is highly popular with tenants
The Green Building Council of Australia certified 161 Castlereagh Street with a 6 Star Green Star (Office Design v2) rating, making it the largest office building in NSW to achieve this result.
Design Challenge
With two different addresses, the tower facilitates distinct entry points and reception areas for the two major tenants (ANZ, 161 Castlereagh Street and Herbert Smith Freehills at 242 Pitt Street). Subsequently, the design of the ANZ foyer was required to resolve a number of conflicting requirements including; level changes between two streets without creating onerous access conditions and differing tenant requirements for security control. Despite varying requirements for the major tenants, the design reflects a cohesive and unified entry point. The result is a sculpturally elegant space which functionally supports both the office workers that reside in the building and the pedestrian traffic that frequents the thoroughfare.
The ANZ Tower also takes advantage of the sites particular planning constraints to develop a distinctive form. The main office façade incorporates a distinctive splayed curved volume facing north-east with extensive views across Hyde Park to the Harbour. The lifting strategy utilises a side core that is placed in the south facilitating an open plan, contemporary office layout maximising connectivity. South placement of the lift core also provides opportunities for vertical interconnection through centrally located voids.
Sustainability
A shared commitment to sustainability underpinned the design and development of the ANZ Tower. It is the largest office building in NSW to achieve a 6 Star Green - Office Design v2 rating from the Green Building Council of Australia.
Legion House (a part of Liberty Place) receives little sun or wind making these unsuitable as renewable energy sources. Instead, the project receives its energy from a process called biomass gasification. Instead, Legion House utilises the commercial paper waste generated from the ANZ tower through shredding and compressing this waste to form paper briquettes, which can then be used in the gasification plant to produce a usable Syngas. This is effectively a carbon zero energy source as the greenhouse gases released in the energy production equal that absorbed in creating the biomass.
Other sustainability measures include; 2 x 450 kilowatt tri-generation plants, generating electricity, heating and cooling for the air conditioning and hot water systems, high efficiency chillers supported by tri-generation plant, a high-performance thermally shielded glass exterior, active chilled beam perimeter zone with low temperature VAV central zone and rainwater harvesting and test water collection and re-use.
Architecture - Commercial - Constructed
This award celebrates the design process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. Consideration given for material selection, technology, light and shadow.
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