Three Barangaroo Hotel designs show Sydney will get a world class sculptural building: Chris Johnson
The three shortlisted designs for an iconic tower for Crown Resorts at Barangaroo demonstrate a new approach to the design of tall towers.
The three designs demonstrate architecture of flowing shapes that imply movement as opposed to older static tower forms.
The three architects have incredible global track records in designing tall buildings. Clearly each team can deliver a quality final product.
With my background as the NSW Government Architect for 10 years it is hard to resist giving some preferences even based on early information.
The proposal by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill is a fraction ahead in my assessment with its dynamic shape and its approach to the ground plane. These architects have designed some of the world’s tallest buildings from the beautiful Jin Mao tower in Shanghai, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai to the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah at 1000 metres and more recently their design for the 119 floor Greenland Centre in Wuhan in China.
Following close behind is the design by Wilkinson Eyre with a series of interwoven curves that emphasise the vertical form. This firm has designed the elegant Guangzhou International Finance Centre which has a flowing cigar shape to the 103 storey tower with a triangular atrium through the upper levels.
Kohn Pedersen Fox have another flowing design with some midrise wings. Their impressive 118 storey International Commerce Centre in Hong Kong demonstrates the quality of their architecture and how an iconic building on the waterfront can add value to the city.
The three designs carry the spirit of the original design for a hotel in the water onto the land.
These new designs add the spark that the hotel in the water provided back into the overall design.
Clearly there will be more refinement of the designs and a planning approval process that will assess the winning proposal in detail but Sydney looks like is getting a world class sculptural building that demonstrates our confidence as a global city.
Chris Johnson is chief executive of Urban Taskforce.
