a brighter greenwood

The new ceiling and lighting treatment at Greenwood Shopping Plaza is nearly complete. The design looked at creating an artificial atrium light, similar to the existing glass atriums at the centre, where you see the branches of large trees located at the roof deck. 

The lighting is connected to a computer system allowing the light to the "birds nest" to change colour or work on a programmed loop of colours.

The design by Crone Partners, is gaining positive response from shoppers and retailers alike, who are encouraging modernisation of the dated centre. 

a stair with bling

 



If you are not aware of who Austereo is, they are a radio station company, worth nearly $700m and responsible for two major radio stations brands, MMM and 2Day FM.

 

Austereo is located at the World Square site in Sydney and moved to these premises in 2006. The building, is located at the corner of George Street and Goulburn Streets, at the Western end of George Street, near China Town. At World Square you can find commercial offices, residential  apartments and retail uses, surrounding a central public plaza space.

Crone Partners, designed the World Square Master Plan and were invited to design an interconnecting stair in the Austereo Fitout and a rooftop amenities area. The works included; a stair that connected 3 levels of the tenancy, glass lift, toilets and kitchen provisions, as well as a multi-purpose room on the rooftop, that could be used for special events.

 

The interconnecting stair provides a space where employees can interact in a dynamic environment. The steel stair uses a steel channel stringer and balustrades, set-out perpendicular to the stringers. Patch fitting connect the glass to the balustrades and a 50mm diam Stainless Steel handrail borders the edges. The treads are finished with a dark grey rubber finish and set in a Stainless Steel pan, that spans between the stringers creating a clean and simple soffit. The colour wall to the side of the stair is a feature of the space. The wall is made from Barrisol and the lighting is connected to a computer system, allowing the colour's to change on demand or on a loop system. The "communication" stair encourages people to use the stair to travel between floors, instead of using the lift. Eco friendly! 

 

The total Fitout costs for the project was approx. $10m.

  

 

 

 

pearl river commercial tower china

Crone Partners worked on the Design Competition for a commercial office tower in China, with a local firm based in Guangzhou, named IAPA. Unfortunately we did not win the project but the experience, designing a major tower in the city and travelling to Guangzhou was memorable.

The project was run by the Guangdong Tobacco Company. Considering the project promoted good Environmental Sustainable Design it seemed a little strange to be working for a Tobacco Company client.
The project was located in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, near to the Pearl River, about 120km North West of Hong Kong. Guangzhou is known as a key transportation hub and trading port for the country of China.

The concept was based on the idea of duality. A situation prevalent in nature, having 2 states, that are complimentary or opposed to each other. The idea of duality is clear in the massing of the tower, the relationship between solid and void, lightness & darkness, private versus public spaces and the clear separation between vehicular and pedestrian movements.

The project is made up of a 68 storey, commercial office tower, with convention centre facilities, restaurants and speciality retail outlets. Four levels of basement car parking are located below ground, including a loading dock and a combination of stackable and conventional car parking spaces, to maximise efficiency and minimise basement excavations, due to the water table. The total GFA for the project is 170,185m2.

The 290m tall tower is orientated towards park views and desirable, southerly aspect, for warm winter sun access.

The tower project was designed using Environmental Sustainable Design principles to minimize the energy consumption of the building and to conserve water usage. A combination of passive and active environmental strategies was used in the areas of; Energy, Water, Transportation, Land Use and Ecology, Indoor Environmental Quality, Management, Materials and Emissions.

I like the photo below of the "little" model we had made for the competition.

 

2 shots of the arya residences

The photographs below, are off the Arya Residences in Fort Bonifacio, Philippines. The building is still under construction and we (Crone Partners Architects), designed it back in 2010. Arya is a twin tower, residential development targeting LEED gold and Berde, green building ratings. The first residential building in the Philippines, to have such high aspirations for environmental design.

I have cheated a little with the photograph, using filters in Instagram, but I like the wispy clouds and colours in the first photograph and the grey grain of the balcony detail in the second image.

sydney's greenwood shopping plaza gets a new face lift.

Sydney's Greenwood Shopping Plaza, is getting a new and well deserved face lift, over the coming months. Interior Design Packages were completed last year, by Crone Partners Interior Design Team, for it's client Mirvac. The design includes new ceilings to the metro level and upper levels of the centre. New seating areas will also be provided, with feature planter boxes and bamboo planting, to provide areas of respite in a peaceful environment, for the typically busy, city commuter. 

The concept for Greenwood Plaza was to create a new and vibrant modern shopping experience, that did not detract from the shop fronts and retailers themselves.

The photographs featured in this blog were taken in early May. They show images of Stage 1 works, that include ceiling and lighting upgrades to the mall areas. The vertical blades are shaped from Plywood and the feature light at the entry to the escalators made from Barrisol. The ridge to the vertical louvres is constantly changing, creating the idea of movement, ever prevalent in the daily movements of commuters from North Sydney Station. 

Mainbrace are the contractors for the project and Philips lighting provided the LED lights and lighting design. Barrisol is used in the feature lighting areas and installed the vertical louvre blades to the ceiling.

The stage 1 construction is still works in progress, with final lighting positions to be fine tuned and signage to be installed, but we are happy with the results so far. The design team is looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Travis Caulfield's Architecture Blog: Travis Caulfield - Skyscraper for Bees!

Travis Caulfield's Architecture Blog: Travis Caulfield - Skyscraper for Bees!: The  high-rise , named Elevator B, is an urban habitat for a colony of honeybees, designed by architecture students from the University at B...

Crone Partners designed 180 Brisbane - The first commercial building under construction in Brisbane since the GFC

Refer to the article below, found in the Architecture and Design Newsletter, 8 May 2013, titled; " Construction begins on Brisbanes first commercial building since the GFC"

Construction begins on 180B

arya residences. a new green direction for the philippines

The Arya Residences is located on Mckinley Parkway, Bonifacio Global City in the Philippines. The site is approximately 30 minutes drive from Makati CBD. Arya is a twin tower, high rise development, with over 640 premier grade residential apartments and 500 car spaces. The project has a GFA of 76,300m2. Facilities in the development include; 24 hour concierge, retail, health club, spa, gymnasium, pool and private library. Tower 1 is currently under construction and due for completion in 2013. The Arya Residences is the flagship project, for ArthaLand Corporation and designed by Crone Partners in 2009.

The development creates a lifestyle community with the mantra “live, work and play”, providing facilities and amenities convenient to the resident, encouraging people to stay “at home”, because everything you need isat your doorstep. The site is in close proximity to the High Street shopping boulevarde, schools, markets, parks and health care facilities.

The architecture is modern and responsive to the environment, with strong sustainable design initiatives. The Arya Residence is targeting both a US LEED "Gold" rating and PhilGBC BERDE Rating. Arya is the first residential building in the Philippines to apply for a dual green building certification, challenging popular culture in the Philippines.

The Arya residence recently won “Best Residential Development” in the Philippines at the 2012 South East Asia Property Awards and is being praised by local and international markets, for promoting green buildings.

Crone Partners has been given great support from Austrade, both in Australia and in the Philippines. This has also included introductions and keen interest, from Australian Ambassador in the Philippines, Mr Bill Tweddle.

Images of tower 1 from our Schematic Design presentation below.

180 brisbane website goes live!

The 180 Brisbane website went live last week with the catch phrase; "Introducing a New Direction in Prestige Office Space"

180 Brisbane is a 35 level commercial office tower, with Retail and basement Car Parking and a NLA of 60,000m2. The building has 5 basement levels, is targeting a 6 Star Green Star, environmental rating and has an estimated Construction Cost of $300m.

Watpac were recently awarded the contract, to build the Japanese client Daisho's, flagship project in Brisbane. Crone Partners designed the building in 2010, with construction to be completed by 2015.

For more information please visit the website below.

http://180brisbane.com/

arya residences under construction

Crone Partners designed Arya Residences in 2010. This photo was taken April this year, while I visited the site in Fort Bonifacio, Philippines. This is tower 1 which topped out at level 40 and tower 2, which is an elliptical building is at about level 4. Both towers due for completion 2015. Arya Residence has won a number of awards for Green Building Design, targeting both LEED and BERDE certifications. Arya also won Best Residential Development in the Philippines, at the South East Asia Property Awards 2012.

AYALA Land look to Australian Architectural firm for an edge in the market - Garden Towers located in Makati, Philippines

Garden Towers, is a twin tower residential development, located in the heart of the Makati retail district, in the Philippines. The project consists of residential, retail and basement car parking levels. The towers were designed by Crone Partners, for AYALA Land Premier, in 2012. The premium grade residential towers, are 51 and 60 levels each, with a total gross floor area of 127,000sqm. The site area is 9,000m2 and the first tower was launched late 2012. The first tower has 340 apartments in 1 bed, 2 bed, 3 bed and 4 bed configurations and at the “soft launch” in Makati, 35% of apartments were sold off the plan. Most popular to sell, have been the 2 and 3 bedroom apartments.
Special features of the design, include a garden lobby that connects the towers at the Porte Corche drop-off. An internal private garden for residents, connects the site to the Glorietta Shopping precinct and Palm Promenade dining strip. Sky gardens are located at every fourth level of the tower, providing framed vistas from corridor spaces and areas of respite for residents in a garden environment. Sun Rooms are a feature of the apartments, allowing balconies to be extensions of the living spaces, throughout the year.