Bates Smart’s expressionist design for an office tower in Sydney’s Green Square has been submitted for planning assessment.
Proposed for the intersection of Botany Road and O’Riordan Street, the 17-storey building will become a key focal point of the urban renewal area with its striking form offering a contemporary reinterpretation of the area’s industrial saw-tooth geometry.
The tower will sit atop a solid masonry base with arched openings, recalling the brick arches of industrial buildings. The building form will be split down the middle to create a covered north-south link between Transport Place and the Green Square Railway Station and a pocket park to the south. Retail tenancies and corner cafes will help to activate this link and the surrounding public domain.
Bates Smart describes in planning documents how a “naturally ventilated social heart” constructed of timber will sit between the two distinct workplace volumes, visually suspended above the through-site link.
For the facade of the tower proper, vertical and horizontal shading fins in striking red oxide again recall the area’s industrial past.
Green Square office tower by Bates Smart.
“We have reinterpreted the masonry [of the old factory buildings] into a contemporary masonry material, GRC,” state the architects. “The glazing is protected from solar gain by a brise soleil of 600 mm horizontal and vertical members at 1.8m centres. Their regular repetition visually links to the utilitarian character of the industrial buildings, without resorting to mimicking the form and details.”
Landscaped roof terraces from level 10 to 16 will create biophilic connections to nature for the office workers. The project’s landscape architect Turf Design Studio notes that the proposed planting incorporates a strong cascading theme that will soften the top corner edges of the building.
“Flashes of red are incorporated to reflect the microclimatic condition of hotter drier conditions toward the top of the building,” the landscape architecture firm notes. “Grey green / glaucas foliage is also utilised to further reflect microclimatic conditions.”
Bates Smart won a City of Sydney Design Excellence competition for the project earlier in the year.
A model of the Bates Smart’s Green Square office tower.
The practice’s director Philip Vivian noted at the time the potential of the project to become a landmark in a changing suburb.
“The city fringe location, alongside the connection to Green Square’s train station, provides a unique opportunity to create a fringe precinct that invigorates its context and sets the precedent for the workplace of the future,” he said.
Developed by Toga Group, the $141 million project will deliver 28,751 square metres of office and retail space, along with end-of-trip facilities. The development application is on public exhibit until 17 Septemebr.
