Bates Smart has altered its initial designs for a tower to be built at Sydney’s Green Square town centre, which has seen the amount of apartments reduced in the building and the size of each remaining apartment increased.
The original tower that was approved in 2019 was to comprise 104 apartments with approximately 70sqm of floorspace. That number has since been reduced to 81, with the apartments now featuring 90sqm of floorspace.
The overall built form and scale has remained relatively untouched despite the modifications, with a heavy masonry plinth of stone serving as the base of the building with the lobby imagined as a glass box. The tower has been an ongoing project since 2016, after Bates Smart won a design competition for ‘Site 18’ at Green Square.
“The stepped building form results in the Neilson Square setback being more open to the sky and the ground plane is treated as an extension of the Square. A glass canopy provides a sheltered pedestrian thoroughfare along the Ebsworth Street and Neilson Square frontages,” a statement from the practice reads.
The practice says that the Green Square precinct has seen a number of key infrastructure projects including the Green Square Library and Gunyama Park Aquatic and Recreation Centre completed in the time since it took out the design competition, which effectively caused a rethink for the tower itself. This rethink has allowed for bigger apartments with increased natural light, ventilation and floor-to-floor heights. The practice has also implemented operable shading to the north west and south west-facing facades.
The updated application is now on display, and will remain as such until January 28.
Image: Supplied
