BARANGAROO - #SITE WORKS: C4 Tower - 43L / 178M / office

[Avatar]

I have mixed feelings after attending the meeting tonight. It was the same old gaggle of serapaxed out septeganians. Funnily enough I understand where some of them are coming from.

I'd rather they just leave this whole precinct alone until they redefine the entire central spine of the city and the area around central and broadway where large floor plate buildings could eventually be getting built but at far greater heights. Until we have a couple of towers like 2IFC sitting in along the central spine and some vastly taller larger floorplace buildings filling in the shallow gaps between midtown and wynyard this proposal will always look ridiculous. It's akin to mixing duplo blocks with traditional lego ... its just doesn't work. Barangaroo totally unbalances the skyline and reduces the scope and stature of what we already have. Such large bulky buildings on such massive floorplates erode any benefit we have of scale ... in effect making the entire city look much shorter and smaller.

The vast sums of money going into recreating the naturalistic headland is plainly stupidity. BTW lets put the entire cultural centre under a massive mound of dirt and then find a way to let lots of natural light in. Maybe they can just ask switzerland to send over 200 tones of swiss cheese and dump it on the headland.

The entire project still retains it's complete mismash of ideas and precincts ... with little flow and no possibility that it will suceed as an active and inclusive space for people to enjoy. It has Darling Harbour mk II fail written all over it.

Every second word the presenters uttered was sustainability this and that and lend lease have gone to such great lengths to sell the environmental aspects that they seem to have forgotten contextual relevance. Their contrived office space was decked out with tokenistic recycled timber detailing. It's overzealous with too much emphasis on 'world-leading' sustainability practices ... personally I think this overarching issue is reducing the potential for more avant-garde architecture.

I detest the entire proposal and I'd rather see it all put on ice for at least 15 years when we can actually develop something more integrated.

[motion]

i agree. Unfortunately i think even a sports stadium would have been a much more appealing proposal it serves a purpose and would look asthetically amazing a REAL worlds first a sports stadium on the edge of a city by the water.

Other BETTER ideas include:

*A Very interactive ferry terminal with shops (a mini fish market) another circular quay i guess. kiosks etc

*A REAL and definig cultural center. A grand one im talking. I.e. Disney Hall, etc. The Boomerang proposal was amazing.

*A Fashion Merchant's district. (Think a mix of the Meat packing district and the Fashion district in Downtown LA) They could hold Sydney Fashion week there, film festivals, etc.

* High-rise residential towers (build a whole new neighborhood mixing historic sandstone elements with skyscrapers) and cafes, shops, etc below. No office towers as it is a high-rise neighborhood.

If you did build any of this, there would be no need to appease people with parks and waste space. Dont get me wrong a park would be nice but not to this scale, where it almost defines the whole area and has no purpose really more than just appeasing 150 complainers. Very VERY silly that is not how to build cities - Paris, new york would not be what they are today if they tried to please a handful of people.

I even think if the park was build like Central park in the middle and surrounded by the towers in a U shape it would be more asthetically pleasing and people would use the park more.

Its such a shame. As a scraper fan it is quite pleasing we are getting like 6 towers over 150m in ONE development which is unheard of in OZ thus far but as a city boy and a very well traveled one it is not the best.

[Fabian]

Sadly those 150 whingers don't think the park is enough. Lend Lease have been brave to get this far and with State Government help.

Thanks for attending Avatar. What else did they say about the office building in relation to it's features? What did you think about the models?

[CULWULLA]

ive remodelled C5 identical as C4. next up is C3.
3 towers with over 300,000sqm of space? wow

image hosted on flickr

[MILIUX]

According to evening meeting these towers should accommodate 45% of office space demands over the next 15 years.

[CULWULLA]

the 55storey C3 tower will have 120,000sqm of office space and easily be australias largest office tower when completed in a few years time.

[Sky_Is_The_Limit]

What is the staging like for the rest of the buildings Cul? If C4 is approved and under construction by mid 2011, what is the next building in line for B South?

If the hotel is not supposed to be ready until 2014 I suppose it won't start until 2012?

[CULWULLA]

im only guessing but i think after C4, will be C5 then C3. also hotel will start next year.

[zulu69]

Cheers to sky for posting ze link!

[CULWULLA]

love the exploding towers!

[Avatar]

Lend Lease have stated completion of the final towers is based on demand, C4 is already substantially spoken for. DA for C5 would come though soon.

[CULWULLA]

correct

[Fabian]

C4 will fill up quickly and they have more than a decade to fill up all the space in each tower. I rather have one tower rise at a time and have it full upon completion then start all them at roughly the same time and have large patches of each building empty.

[pat_]

this is true. it also (hopefully) means the tower designs will all be slightly different, assuming RR will be respectable enough to push for updated designs as style changes

[CULWULLA]

the towers are basically using the same "chassis" if you will. massive 2500sqm floor plates. they just dress up the exterior diferently. rogers seems to use this is all his new big towers around the world. he think towards future trends.

[Fabian]

Phased construction has the advantage of modifications to future buildings on the site and also allows for changes in technology and construction.

Darling Harbour didn't go up overnight - It took over a decade to truely establish itself as a destination.

[Avatar]

Originally Posted by Fabian

Darling Harbour didn't go up overnight - It took over a decade to truely establish itself as a destination.

It's still trying fabs.

[Fabian]

Still trying? I wonder where you have been all these years?

[Grollo]

I still just can't understand why the two smaller towers weren't combined into one 350m high tower. It would look far less bulky and would provide more open space at ground level.

[CULWULLA]

maybe because of height limit and a 350m tower unbalance the skyline.