A 108-storey ‘super tower’ planned for Southport will not only be the tallest building in Australia; it will also be the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. The building will function as a community-in-miniature, and feature its own university.

Designed by Kris Kowalski Architects, the Imperial Square Stage 3 Tower will have more floors than the Empire State Building in New York, and beat the recently-announced Orion Towers in Surfers Paradise – a 328-metre, 103-level, mixed-use project by Woods Bagot – as Australia’s tallest building.

The Imperial Square Stage 3 Tower will also out-strip the building that currently holds the title of Southern Hemisphere’s tallest; Auckland’s 328-metre Sky Tower by Craig Craig Moller (CCM) Architects.

“Advances in construction technology and construction techniques of tall buildings are allowing tall buildings to become increasingly more viable,” says Urbis’ director of planning, Matt Schneider.

“The [Imperial Square Stage 3 Tower] is designed to connect with the urban fabric, integrating with the city/street life, and reflects the nature of the Gold Coast City, whilst integrating the Urban Habitat into human scaled urban environments.”

The new supertower will be the centrepiece of the Gold Coast’s Imperial Square development (also designed by Kris Kowalski). The development is set to house its own university, 2,200 apartments, a 200-room hotel, and 200 student accommodation rooms.

Located on the corner of Ferry Road and Meron Street in the CBD, the Imperial Square Stage 3 Tower will sit on a six-level podium featuring 50,000sqm of floor space. Extending above the podium will be three separate towers consisting of 48, 68 and 108 levels.

Imperial Square is to be a self-contained suburb once fully completed, with facilities such as a hospital, childcare, library, church, shopping centre and gym all proposed as part of the design.

The overall project consists of a four-staged, vertically-integrated education and accommodation complex.

“Illustrated by its long history of innovation, a huge focus for the Azzura Investments Limited design team is producing an integrated complex that will reinforce the Gold City skyline as a globally-recognised international education and tourism city,” says architect Kris Kowalski.

Stage 1 of the Imperial Square development – a 20-level, 210 room hotel and 420-room student accommodation complex – was approved in December 2016.

The Gold Coast City Council is due to vote on the new tower later this year.

Nicholas Rider

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