The Commonwealth Bank Place
Buildings come as a complete
surprise. From Tumbalong Park,
it is impossible to register the
sheer size, 60,000 square metres
accommodating over 6,500 bank
staff relocated from the bank’s five
buildings in and around Martin
Place. It is equivalent in floor area
to Australia Square laid over on
its side. The western half of each
building, facing the park, is six
storeys, behind that, separated by
an internal atrium, the Harbour
Street city side, it rises to eight
storeys; all this sits on top of four
levels of underground parking. The
extensive floor area was achieved
with exceptionally deep floors. Any
problems this may have caused
have been avoided by making the
outside skin relatively transparent
to admit a maximum of daylight,
which also helped to avoid any
perception of a dark interior.
Darling Harbour was a 54 hectare
harbourside redevelopment of
the Cockle Bay wharves and
railway yards and was the NSW
State’s contribution to the 1988
Bicentennial celebration. It is
surrounded on three sides, the
city and China Town are on one
side with Ultimo peninsula on
the west. It sits like a green
pocket transfixed by the Western
Distributor elevated roadway
and strangled by roads all round
it. Darling Quarter replaced
the former Sega World with its
unmistakable garish flaming red
cube topped by a conical dunce’s
cap of glass.
“
It was a project that had huge
public interface and a massive
potential impact on Darling Harbour.
Our success was going to be more
determined by the 'place' and the
public domain rather than just
the built form. It was a unique
opportunity to reinvigorate one
of Sydney’s most popular public
spaces.”
Michael Wheatley
Project Director, Australia | Development
Lend Lease
A BETTER PLACE
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A BETTER PLACE
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