Thursday 13 November 2008

Looking Down (4)

Looking south west over Darling Harbour from one of the upper floors of the brand spanking new Westpac Place. The white building in the centre is the National Maritime Museum.

Occupying a one-hectare block at the western edge of the CBD, Westpac Place is the new financial hub for Westpac, catering for a population of more than 5000. Johnson Pilton Walker were selected as architects through an invited design competition conducted under the Sydney City Council Design Excellence guidelines.

The fit-out of the large, flexible floor plates of the office levels of Westpac Place were jointly designed and developed through a collaboration between HASSELL and Geyer. The design concept applied the lessons of successful cities to the vertical community. An open internal stairway links 27 of the 32 floors, helping create a sense of connection and community. The floors are grouped into ‘quarters’ as in a city – a three-floor planning philosophy defines each specifically designed quarter and each has a range of facilities including cafes dispersed throughout.

Westpac Place has been designed to achieve best practice performance for energy, greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental initiatives.

5 comments:

Julie said...

Yeah, but dirt - I need dirt beneath my feet!

Interesting what they have to consider in the way of design nowadays. I like the idea of the internal courtyard. So much of what one does at work is furthered by conversations held in corridors.

It was a grey day, wasn't it?

Guy D said...

I've always wanted to visit Sydney. Great pics and Thanks for sharing!

Cheers!
Regina In Pictures

Ann said...

It was terribly grey and shooting through glass didn't help.

I like the way they have internal coffee shops (proper coffee shops, not kitchen areas) throughout the building, and the open balcony/deck area overlooking Darling Harbour. Think it would be a good place to work. Mind you it needs to be stuck down on the edge of town where it is. Its not really near anything.

Ann said...

Thanks migs cfl fan. HOpe you get here one day.

Julie said...

The silhouette was hand held but the later one was with a little tripod - one of the malleable ones that look like a rope!

I am going to try some more over the next few nights to take advantage of the full moon!