Grimshaw has completed a 27-storey commercial office tower in Sydney’s Circular Quay. Located at 210 George Street, the tower is a new addition to the Alfred, Pitt, Daley and George Streets (APDG) precinct.
Designed with a “sculptural form”, the tower, dubbed Poly Centre, is composed of three parts: an eastern core, a west-facing central tower, and an 11-storey form with a series of cantilevered arches that create a sheltered space connected to the street and surrounding precinct. Vertical blades define the street façade and provide shading at different times of the day.
At the street level, an elongated glazed canopy, hung from the arching columns, extends the public realm of the building.
The tower is composed of three parts: an 11-storey form with a series of cantilevered arches, a central tower, and an eastern core.
Image: Peter Bennetts
“Poly Centre is designed to maximize daylight, enable greater connectivity within and enhance enjoyment of public realm beyond,” said Andrew Cortese, managing partner of Grimshaw’s Sydney studio. “We devised a system of elegantly elongated concrete arcs that are expressed at street level and repeated across each double-height floor plate to create mezzanines throughout the 27-storey build.
“On the top floor ‘city room’, the arcs reappear as expressed steel. For all this formal modelling, the tower has a sensuous feeling to it, materials vary in texture and tonality; light falls across its curves beautifully, soon to illuminate the village-like movement within.”
Internally, the tower is divided into a series of double-height volumes that enhance daylight and foster community -building. The lobby is defined by a curvilinear wall laminated in folding brass.
The building has targeted a 5-star Green Star rating and a 5-star NABERS rating.
