sebastianusv.

project info;

8 Loftus Street is a component of a larger Masterplan for AMP Capital in Circular Quay, Sydney. Our new building contributes to a vibrant new precinct of fine-grain laneways and arcades. Two levels of retail spaces form a base for 31 apartments housed over six upper levels. An arcade marries the busy street to the inner laneway refuge, while upper-level shops lead the eye up to tucked-away spaces for exploration and respite. The building is capped by a recreational roof garden for the use of its residents.

Formally, the new building shifts and folds, fluidly responding to spatial influences and contextual constraints. Mass appears polished and ‘grounded away’ with setbacks swelling and receding, softening the transitions by gently sliding back from the street facade line.

Sitting against the Sydney sandstone, the choice of steel grey bricks has been made to contrast and sharpen appreciation of both materials. Solid brick panels, perforated brick screens, and black steel horizontal ribbon ledge elements alternate and interweave within a vertical organizational grid to lend the façade a woven fabric-like visual quality. Perforated, bronze anodized screens provide flexible sun shading and privacy to the apartments. The daily sliding and angling of the adjustable screens give an animated surface with a random undulating movement—a daytime and nighttime dance of fine-grain environmental adaptability.