Woods Bagot has been appointed by Greenland Australia to refurbish the art deco offices of Sydney Water Board on 339 Pitt Street in New South Wales.

Tasked to highlight and restore the building’s heritage features, the firm will repurpose the space as a contemporary design hotel.

The new 180-bed, five star hotel will be called Greenland Hotel, and is part of the Greenland Centre project which includes Sydney’s tallest tower on Bathurst Street.

Completed in 1939, the former Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Headquarters building was designed by Budden and Mackey, and has been noted in a 2008 Statement of Significance as a “fine example of a late 1930’s Art Deco Style commercial building”.

According to Woods Bagot’s Sydney design principal Wade Little, a key challenge of the design was to transform the space into a contemporary hotel while retaining and celebrating the beauty of the heritage features.

This gap is bridged through the materiality of new elements introduced within the space, which will reference the original stone and timber veneer panel of the original design.

“The original marble columns and art deco detailing will be retained, with complementary finishes and materials added to create an elegant modern feel,” Little adds.

Lighter tones will visually connect the large space of the ground floor, while skylights will be exposed and refurbished to create a light central volume. Hotel rooms over six floors, converted from empty office space, will feature simple luxurious interiors.

The ground plane of the hotel and residential building will be connected via a series of new pedestrian laneways for use by retail tenancies. Lightweight roof canopies are expected to provide weather protection for the rooftop restaurant, bar and pool areas, while respecting the existing heritage parapet along the Pitt and Wilmont Street frontages.

The redevelopment is due for completion in 2015.

Geraldine Chua

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