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
