As a part of Sydney Open this year, not only have architecture practices Candalepas Associates, DKO Architecture, Grimshaw, JPW, PTW in Aurora Place, and Unipsace at Grosvenor Place granted public access to examples of their most revered work, but they’re also opening the doors to their studios.
Candalepas Associates converted a turn-of-the-century inner-Sydney industrial warehouse into their own architectural studio and have occupied the space since 2016. Although the space was Heritage Listed the refurbishment of the space has honoured many elements from its original use such as high ceilings, circulation plans, original staircase (there is a new lift), timber framing, and brick walls.
DKO Architecture sits within a two-storey brick and rendered building dominated by a four-storey clock tower built in 1882, once the Redfern Post Office. Nearly a century and a half later many of the original design features remain well preserved, these include ornate plaster cornices, pressed metal ceilings, timber floorboards and a grand central timber staircase.
333 George Street was designed by Grimshaw for Charter Hall to exemplify a “new breed” of workplace design. Eighteen storeys and a fully glazed façade the building illuminates the street below and surrounding buildings.
JPW is hosting rare, guided tours of within their Pitt Street Studio. Having worked on some of Sydney’s most recognisable contemporary buildings – The National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, The Museum of Sydney, the Asian wing of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and an extension to Sydney’s Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park – their own offices exhibit their signature, controlled approach to design.
PTW approached the design of their headquarters less like a brief to problem solve and more like a calling card. The brief, as well as the design, was informed by a number of staff workshops to ensure modern working habits and needs were addressed. The resulting office boasts natural ventilation, a reduced need for artificial overhead lighting, breakout spaces and height-adjustable desks.
Visit Unispace studio on Level 43 of Grosvenor Place. As the building nears its 30-year anniversary it remains an iconic feat of Australian architecture. As one of Harry Seidler’s most complex and (with a slew of awards to its name) celebrated works, the building features two crescent towers split by an elliptical central core: a convex lenses through which to view picturesque Sydney.
Sydney Open
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