For one day in November, Sydney Living Museums throws open the doors to some of Sydney’s most loved and architecturally inspiring buildings. There are over 50 buildings in this year’s program. Here is our selection of the must-see buildings.
Johnson Pilton Walker has transformed a monumental, Beaux-Arts revivalist building in one of Sydney’s most significant civic spaces into a new commercial space for Macquarie Group. Crowned with a delicate, transparent dome inspired by the Grand Palais in Paris and the Reichstag in Berlin, the building infuses the progressive aspirations of the bank with a historic landmark.
Sydney’s new commercial tower 8 Chifley Square by Lippmann Partnership and Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners has deftly interpreted commercial requirements and City of Sydney planning regulations to become a tower of significant presence. With a “reverse podium” lifted six storeys off the ground, it also makes a generous contribution to the public domain.
The Lands Department Building was once described by the former NSW chapter president of the Australian Institute of Architects, Joe Agius as “one of the grand public buildings that helps define Sydney as a ‘sandstone’ city.” This could be one of the last opportunities to see this early colonial building as a public asset, as the NSW government approved 99-year leases for the Department of Lands building and the neighbouring Department of Education building to be converted in to luxury hotels, which will open in 2018.
UTS Dr Chau Chak Wing building by Gehry and Partners.
New to this year’s Sydney Open program are two recently completed buildings for the University of Technology Sydney, The first is the curvy Frank Gehry-designed Dr Chau Chak Wing building, which seduced a master bricklayer out of retirement. While you’re there, take a stroll along the The Goods Line by Aspect Studios and CHROFI, Sydney’s answer New York’s High Line. The second is the Science and Health building designed by Durbach Block Jaggers and BVN, winner of this year’s William E Kemp Award for Educational Architecture from the Australian Institute of Architects NSW chapter. Also don’t forget that the Faculty of Engineering and IT (FEIT), designed by Denton Corker Marshall and completed in 2014, is part of the Sydney Open program as well.
St James Station tunnels.
Image:
Courtesy Sydney Living Museums
St James Station tunnels
For the bravehearts, Sydney Open will offer a lucky few to a chance to tour the (sometimes spooky) underground tunnels of St James Station. Built in the 1920s, the tunnels were originally intended to connect St James Station with Sydney’s eastern suburbs of Bondi and Randwick. War and the Great Depression put a halt to the construction work that would have connected the tunnels to the main lines. The tunnel walls are graffitied with heart-felt messages from soldiers, who used the tunnels as bomb shelters during World War II and were unsure if they would see their families again. Trespassers reportedly use the tunnels to connect with the departed and other spooky activities. There’s even an underground lake (or flooded sections of the tunnels) rumoured to be home Australia’s own Loch Ness monster, a.k.a. a giant albino eel.
Sydney Open 2015 will unlock the doors to the city on Sunday 1 November. A Sydney Open City Pass will allow visitors guaranteed access to the buildings in the program. Ticket purchases made before 16 October will go in the draw to win a Gold Ticket which gives limited access to the St James Station tunnels and other exclusive sites. To purchase tickets, click here.
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