The Project
The location of the proposed works is situated at 5 Macquarie Street, Sydney. It is situated on Sydney Harbour with Iconic views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House. The main aspects that inspired my design were the grid, site context and the use of the project for both private residential apartments and public spaces. The Architecture includes a cluster of voronoi shapes that form a medium to high-rise building. An outer shell that follows an unordered grid encloses the Building, which forms a web like structure that creates a public domain.
The Concept
The conceptual ideas that form the design include the grid, water movement and evolving architecture. As the project is situated on Sydney harbour, the design is heavily influenced by water movement. For the outer shell I sought to create a structure that represented the fluid movement of water. The cell structure is engulfing the architecture like a wave of water. This feature draws the community and visitors to the space and visually connects the new architecture with the harbour location. The main idea was to recreate ‘The Grid’, as the city skyline consists of horizontal and vertical planes I sought to create an irregular grid that my design will follow. As the site is located at the end of the city skyline, the architecture eases out to the harbour level.
The Architecture
The main aspect of the architecture that inspired my works is ‘The Grid’. The main idea of the redevelopment is to revitalize the harbour and enhance the character of the iconic area. As the city skyline is composed solely of clean horizontal and vertical lines, I sought to create a building that follows an unordered grid. Firstly I created a set of voronoi shapes and stacked them to form a cluster to form a complex Architectural design. The staggered shapes form the apartments. I then oddly arranged and cantilevered the voronoi shapes, which enhances ventilation and solar access for all the apartments. The staggered shapes also improve the views for neighbouring buildings as the existing Bennelong Apartments block the harbour views from three directions. The spaces in between the voronoi shapes on the ground floor create arcades for retail, hospitality and theatres. The building is designed to accommodate the public whilst the iconic Architecture compliments the site.
The Shell
The shell architecture that encases the building will create a public space around the architecture as well as serving for privacy and shading. I sought to create an organic shape that was heavily influenced by the movement of water. The figure evolves around the architecture as if it was a wave of water that has paused in time. The structure follows an unordered grid and creates an outer shell for the Architecture. The shell encases the building and provides a unique iconic feature for the site location. The structure is created with fragmented geometry and has multiple perspective points but appears to be ordered. It forms a public space for the community and visitors to take in the magic location. The material of the structure includes steel grid shell and metal mesh cladding.
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