A striking built form on the city skyline and the first completed high-rise in Australia delivered as a fully integrated Building Information Model (BIM), this project immediately established itself as an exemplary union of architectural and technological innovation.

BRIEF

To create a new commercial office benchmark for innovation and sustainable design that creates a distinctive built form on the North Sydney skyline.

The creation of 28,500m2 of A-grade 6 Star Green Star office space for the tight North Sydney market provided the opportunity for an expressive piece of architecture that integrated into its surroundings and provided a new place for the CBD.

ARCHITECT’S WORDS

Integrated into North Sydney’s heritage precinct, the iconic form of Coca-Cola Place rises above its peers to create a new benchmark for innovation and sustainable design for the CBD skyline.

The building is conceived as a set of layered elements which respond to the heritage street grain, natural environment, public domain, and city skyline. These elements together with the creation of new public realm and urban art are what give Coca-Cola Place a distinct sense of ‘place’.

The streetscape along Mount Street is framed by the Mary Mackillop group of buildings on the opposite side of the Street. These buildings step from the boundary with a series of bays that range in height as they move away from the CBD.

The podium design sought to respond to this context with a street rhythm that is an articulated form expressing a series of vertical zinc framed boxes against an angled wall of glass, thus building a relationship with the heritage buildings both in form and reflection.

The new public space on the corner of Mount Street and William Street occupies the site of the old Telephone Exchange and takes not only its plan form but its volume from the size of the previous heritage building. This subtle link to the past occupation of the site sets the scene for a number of important artworks that pick up on the specificity of the place and its previous uses.

From the Freddie Tims painting Lissadell, installed on the ceiling of the forecourt, reflecting on Australia, to the Hany Armanious, Lines of communication artwork in the glass wall along Mount Street framing the lobby, the art all explores or reference the history of place as a point in time.

1936 an artwork by Rice Daubney model maker and artist Simon Grimes reuses the original letters from the Telephone Exchange to act as a shadow play on the concrete blade wall in the lobby. The early integration of this series of specific art pieces into the building fabric aimed to provide talking points and a gathering of stories that allow for the literal exploration of the sites rich history.

Soaring above the lobby and podium the tower again reflects its context as it acts as a mediator between the radically different scales of the North Sydney CBD and the surrounding 1 and 2 storey residential precincts.

The towers’s primary façade faces Sydney Harbour with a delicate wing of glass suspended in front of the building, instilling a sense of lightness, transparency and intrigue. This glazed wing is cranked in the middle providing more area on the upper levels while interpreting a council control for a varied setback in a unique way to provide the major building expression.

From the residential precincts to the west, the building is designed to recede away from the viewer as the building gets higher, a key initiative in reducing the visual bulk and impact on this sensitive precinct.

The urban setting of the building to the east is the CBD core and the culmination of Mount Street plaza. Viewed from this aspect the building is perceived as a uniform rectilinear form that because of its darker grey glazing, window framing and sunshades creates a perfect backdrop and contrast to the North Sydney Post Office in the foreground. This dramatically enhances the setting for the iconic form of the Post Office clock tower which was previously lost in a chaotic background.

Designed from the outset as a green building the design has achieved a 6 Star Green Star Office Design and As-built ratings from the GBCA and is the first high-rise commercial building to achieve such a rating in NSW.

The base building optimises the sites location and aspect to provide a number of strong passive design propositions such as a northern side core with the largest wall of glass facing the harbour to the south and heavily shaded elevations to the east and west.

Added to these passive measures are a series of active measures that make the overall building an efficient and sustainable design, these include tri-generation power supply which now feeds both this building and another Investa asset 126 Phillip Street in the city with low carbon electricity, grey and stormwater recycling systems and a series of car parking spaces for the buildings own fleet of electric cars for use by the buildings tenants.

The development of the Coca-Cola Place design as a fully integrated BIM or Building Information Model sees yet another first where Investa worked together with Rice Daubney to assemble a consultant team of BIM capable companies to deliver the final design.

This process has greatly assisted the project from initial discussions and visualisations with council through to the delivery of compact and efficient core areas and plant rooms optimising the returnable NLA within the envelope.

BIM is another first for Coca-Cola Place with the building being the first high rise commercial building in Australia to be delivered as a fully integrated BIM, highlighting the innovative and forward thinking approach that the building projects in its finished form.

Coca-Cola Place has been designed from the outset to be one of Australia’s most recognisable and sustainable office buildings.

ACCOLADES

• 2011- AIA (NSW) Architecture Award, Interior Architecture 2011
• 2011 - AIA (NSW Awards Commercial Building Commendation for Outstanding Architecture
• 2011 - Rider Levett Bucknall Innovation and Excellence Awards - NSW Development of the Year
• 2011 - Rider Levett Bucknall Innovation and Excellence Awards - Best New Sustainable Development
• 2010 - Urban Taskforce Development Excellence Award - Development of the Year
• 2010 - NSW Excellence in Property Award (The Australian Property Industry) - The Environmental Development Award
• 2010 - NSW Excellence in Building and Construction Awards (Master Builder\\'s Association) - Best Use of Glass
• 2010 - NSW Excellence in Building and Construction Awards (Master Builder\\'s Association) - Energy Efficiency

PRODUCTS

REINFORCING STEEL
ACTIVE STEEL
AUSTRAL STEELFIXING

FORMWORK
WIDEFORM

BRICK/BLOCK LAYING
FAVETTI BRICKLAYING

STRUCTURAL STEEL
TENZE ENGINEERING

FAÇADE
PERMASTEELISA

FOYER GLAZING AND ARTWALL
ARCHITECTURAL GLASS PROJECTS

LOUVRES AND SUNSHADES
COLT TOLLFAB

ROLLER SHUTTERS AND CAR PCOCA COLA PLACE ENTRY GATES
MAGIC DOOR INDUSTRIES

ROOF SAFETY AND FAÇADE ACCESS SYSTEM
LIFE & RESCUE INTERNATIONAL

METAL ROOFING
MAINTEK CONSTRUCTIONS

ZINC CLADDING
ARCHITECTURAL ROOFING & WALL CLADDING

FIRE DOORS, DOORS AND HARD¬WARE
CEMAC DOORS

WATERPROOF MEMBRANES
AACTION WATERPROOFING

CEMENT RENDER
LIDCOMBE PLASTERING

DRYWALLS AND CEILINGS
MELVIN

TILING
BETTERTILES

JOINERY
H DALLAS INDUSTRIES

CARPET
ABOVE LEFT
PETER KELLY FLOORING

PAINTING
PPP PAINTING

METAL WORK
MTM STEEL FABRICATION & SITE SERVICES

TIMBER WALL CLADDING
GRAND EAGLE

SIGNAGE
CENTRAL SIGNS

TIMBER FLOORING
ELMICHl
RALLIS TIMBER
ARCHITECTURAL HARDWOODS AUSTRALIA
SAVCON BUILDING

PAVING
SAM THE PAVING MAN

FINAL CLEAN
KRYSTAL COMMERCIAL CLEAN

BASEMENT SEAL AND LINEMCOCA COLA PLACING
SLABSEAL AUSTRALIA

LIFTS
OTIS ELEVATOR CO

DOCK LEVELLER
TIEMAN INDUSTRIES

STRUCTURE
WIDEFORM FORMWORK, CONCRETE WALLS
BLUESCOPE STEEL, LYSAGHT ‘LONG LINE 305’ ROOF
ARCHITECTURAL GLASS PROJECTS, GLASS SHOPFRONT DOORS
CEMAC DOORS, SOLID CORE DOORS

LIGHTING
PIERLITE

FINISHES
CARPET INTER, CARPET TILES
BISANNA TILES AND ROCKS ON, FLOOR AND WALL TILES
MIKOR, CEILING LININGS
WATTYL, PAINTS

FIXED AND FITTED
FOWLER, WCS
CAROMA, ACCESSIBLE WCS
H DALLAS INDUSTRIES, VANITY BENCHES AND TOILET PARTITIONS
AIR-CELL, WALL INSULATION
CSR BRADFORD, CEILING INSULATION
KABA AUSTRALIA, DOOR HARDWARE

ARCHITECTURAL LINING
SUPAWOOD ARCHITECTURAL LINING SYSTEMS