KANNFINCH and renowned Australian architect Ken Woolley were invited to participate in a limited design competition for a new residential tower in the historic Macquarie Street precinct. The site enjoys magnificent views over the Sydney Botanic Gardens towards a panorama of Sydney Harbour.
Our design utilises a striking steel ‘diagrid’ structural frame to support a twenty storey tower accommodating 100 luxury apartments. The design concept evolved from the belief that the group of medium height sandstone and brick heritage buildings in Macquarie Street should be completed and reinforced by alignment, materials and scale. Following the line of reasoning that any Macquarie Street addition should be an infill design, matching the height of the adjacent heritage buildings and detailed in sandstone and granite, and that a tower up to the sun access plane would be set back, we proposed that the tower design should have a distinctly contrasting appearance and retreat stylistically so that it may be regarded more strongly in company with the buildings behind.
