Project Description
3XN’s innovative design for the 49-story Quay Quarter Tower will revitalise AMP Capital’s site, located close to the Opera House, into a vibrant destination for international and local businesses. The new tower will engage in an open dialogue with the skyline while also integrating itself into community life at the street level.
With its design, the new high rise project looks at the typology in an entirely new way, from both the inside out and outside in. Its dynamic, shifted massing maximizes views for all of the building’s users while also creating expansive open spaces that encourage the possibility for interaction, knowledge sharing and vertical connectivity.
The 200-meter-high tower comprises a series of shifting glass volumes stacked upon each other. By dividing the building into five separate volumes and placing atria throughout each volume, the spaces become smaller, more intimate social environments, encouraging building occupants to connect and interact.
Rather than face directly into the adjacent building, the lower levels of the tower are angled west to capture the energy and movement from the surrounding neighbourhood. As the building rises, the northern façade shifts to the east. This rotation not only enhances views over the Opera House and Harbour, but helps self-shade the northern façade from harsh afternoon sun, creating a passive sustainability feature.
Rotating the tower also creates a collection of exterior terraces that are directly linked to the multi-level interior atria, which will contain shared amenity spaces for tenants in each block. These common amenity spaces provide stunning views both vertically and horizontally and bring daylight deep into workspaces while promoting collaboration and interaction.
3XN’s design incorporates 2/3 of the structure of an existing building located on the site. The AMP Centre located at 50 Bridge Street which dates to 1976, was in need of a significant upgrade to meet modern market demands. 3XN will incorporate the majority of the existing structure, adding four new elevator shafts to the core. Given the solar envelope and other contextual restraints, the design adds approximately 45,000m2 of new construction primarily on the north side of the building. The design optimizes the embodied energy and resources inherent in existing building and results in a remarkably efficient plan.