Scott Carver has announced the practice will devise the facade for a redeveloped commercial building at 151-153 Macquarie Street, Sydney.

The 12-storey building will be upgraded in a bid to position it as a contemporary icon of Sydney’s CBD. The original building was completed in 1970, with Scott Carver implementing the existing facade curtain to the building in 2003.

Scott Carver Principal Architect Thomas Hansen says the upgrade gives the practice the ability to reposition the tower for the long-term and re-envision its street address to reflect the forms, scale, and materials of its historic environment.

“The new design of the 151-153 Macquarie Street façade reimagines the building’s history, highlighting the original structural slab-edge design through a continuous glazed curtain wall system that creates a sleeker tower form, accentuating its verticality through glazed fins,” he says.

“The podium will be reinstated to its original datum with a fine-grain terracotta treatment that is sympathetic to the warm, earthy tones of the heritage Macquarie streetscape, while creating a distinctive address for the building.”

The facade upgrade to the building is being carried out by owner RF CorVal in anticipation of the City of Sydney’s retrospective building product ban of Aluminium Composite Panels (ACP). The revitalised facade will replace all existing ACP cladding with a solid aluminium cladding system in a warm, lighter finish that meets compliance requirements and complements the new terracotta cladding on the east facade.

Scott Carver’s design will optimise the view and subsequent connection to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Sydney Opera house, and will introduce a new glazed curtain wall system to the east facade and larger glazed windows for the north facade that maximise daylight penetration and capitalise on the enviable aspect.

“This approach breathes new life into the existing building, which was last upgraded almost 20 years ago, by significantly improving its aesthetic and street presence and providing tenants with enhanced natural daylight and views over the Royal Botanic Garden and Sydney Harbour,” Hansen says.

Construction on 151-153 Macquarie Street is due to commence later this year.

Jarrod Reedie

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