Old-fashioned brown Façade system, to bring sophistication and a harmonious ambience to the 1970's heritage building
20 Martin Place, is the first acquired building by Pembroke Real estate in Australia. Located on the corner of Pitt Street and Martin Place in Sydney's CBD, the architectural vision by Crone was to create a clear, modern commercial building. A specific requirement was to remove the old-fashioned brown Façade system, bringing sophistication and a harmonious ambience to the 1970's heritage building.This complex office tower refurbishment entailed tight project deadlines in a highly-constrained environment. The project involved detailed analysis during all stages to construct a modernised structure over an existing steel frame, and deliver a new "signature building" for the site.
The design team, consisting of Crone, James Carpenter & Associates, TTW and Pembroke Real Estate, envisioned an open space within the building, hence the logic behind removing the existing masonry lift cores and reconfiguring the lift core, stairs, amenities area and service risers to provide as much NLA as possible. To achieve this, 20 Martin Place underwent a major refurbishment to provide additional floor space and a new concrete lift core while retaining the existing building's steel frame. During the concept stage many options were modelled and analysed to determine which of the configurations would be structurally adequate and would comply with the brief.
The success of the project was due to the concept of removing the old steel profiled concrete slabs and reusing the skeletal steel frame. This enabled the developer to retain the building height and replan the office layout.
Martin Place has also been awarded a 6 star green star rating and 'world leadership' status from the GBCA for it's cutting-edge sustainable performance.
