SJB didn’t have to wait long to be in the winner’s circle at the World Architecture Festival, with the practice’s Yirranma Place project winning the Workplace (large) category on the first day of the Festival’s awards program.

Located in Darlinghurst, Yirranma Place was acquired by a private entity in the 1980s from the First Church of Christ Scientists. SJB transformed the former residential space into a modern, flexible commercial building that accounts for all aspects of workplace culture, with galleries and event spaces, meeting rooms and incubator hubs.

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Sustainable design principles influence much of the building’s inner workings, with expert knowledge of past and future techniques providing an ideal environment for its occupants, the Paul Ramsay Foundation.

“Internally, new insertions are floated away from original fabric, ensuring the original is celebrated, almost fetishized,” says SJB Director, Adam Haddow.

“In what was once a dark, gloomy, and restrained interior, new building work is light and bright – happy even, encouraging light into the depth of the plan; we’re proud of the successes the space holds in mediating sensitivity versus innovation.”

Yirranma Place sjb

SJB studied the restoration of Verona’s Castelvecchio Museum, overseen by Carlo Scarpa. The reinvigoration of the building in the 1960s saw a mediaeval castle restored through the adoption of modern manufacturing processes combined with time honoured craft.

The existing fabric is on show throughout the interior spaces, with plinths, bridges, doorways, staircases arranged in asymmetric or playful ways. The original pipe organ, recognised as the largest in the southern hemisphere, has been reconditioned with a new plant room. Many elements, such as doors and parquetry were removed, retained and reused on new floors.

Respectful of the existing, SJB created a two-storey addition above the entry portico and located at the rear of the main church. The addition resembles a glass box, sitting back in the same plane and crafted to be the same height as the church parapet, to ensure the history and heritage of both building and streetscape remain intact.

Yirranma Place sjb

A south-eastern portico off Liverpool Street has remained for public access. Visitors now pass a new public art commission by Barkandji man Uncle Badger Bates, who educates on the Barkandji culture and is widely recognised and respected as an activist and advocate for the health of the Barka, the Darling River.

The World Architecture Festival, located in Lisbon is the world’s largest festival and live awards competition dedicated to celebrating and sharing architectural excellence from across the globe. The 2022 edition of the Festival wraps up on 2 December. SJB’s Newcastle East End and Ashbury Terraces have both been shortlisted in the Mixed Use and Future Projects: Residential categories respectively.

Jarrod Reedie

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