The aim of the project is so balance creative, contemporary, elegant architectural design with the existing heritage character.

The project involves internal refurbishment, landscape upgrade, enhancement of public uses and improvement of accessibility and wayfinding.

For more information see the City of Sydney Website here.

The project, now under construction, aims, to give the centrepiece of the city an active relevant new life after 80 years. The building will house major performance, event and meeting facilities, the offices of the Council and Lord Mayor and a new and enlarged Museum of Brisbane. An extensive new kitchen will be excavated into the basement to serve state-of-the-art conference and event facilities including the 1500-seat Grand Auditorium with its conserved organ.

A significant aspect is the upgrading of the structure and services to meet contemporary safety and operational standards. The exterior will be enhanced by the reconstructions of decades of additions on the roof, whilst the significant heritage interiors will be conserved and enhanced. Access and circulation will be improved throughout the building, as will the acoustic performance of the major spaces.

The entire project is being designed to achieve 5 Star Greenstar rating with a pilot Public Buildings rating tool developed specially for the project.

The original two-storey main building is a robust ironbark trabiated structure with exposed bearers, joists and timber cross bracing, and handsome oregon trusses.

The brief required the use of the original building for offices, print room and reception, which we located on the ground and first floors, and meeting rooms, two of which we housed on a new mezzanine floor. The building also needed WCs, kitchen, impressive foyer area, adequate car/bicycle parking, disabled access and some means of identifying the company from the street without using overt street signage.

The new addition takes the form of a contemporary ‘landmark’ shape, aligned with the original building, at the same scale and in strongly industrial-looking materials. It was conceived as a striking interlocking double wedge form, cantilevered above the remnant front brick wall, and connected to the old building via a glazed slot serving as a passageway.

TZG’s proposal recommended preserving its original fabric, proposing a linear addition with soft curved ends and set back facade. The proposed form took its inspiration from seaside architecture utilising a lightweight structure, continuous balconies and fabric awnings. By centralising access to the building, accentuating the symmetrical nature of its construction and cantilevering part of the first floor, the proposal is able to heighten the sense of public ownership and commercial potential without the destruction of its authenticity.

In 1995, TZG undertook a full refurbishment of the space to accommodate the University’s highly important collection of art works. Full conservation-standard services, a purpose-designed exhibition system and quality finishes enhance the space and highlight its original architecture.

A new cinema complex of 730 seats was placed on the roof of the building, with retail and other functions below. The auditoria are articulated as a series of metal-clad boxes, with an attached glass foyer overlooking the city and the Harbour. A promenade staircase was developed as a sculptural link to the various levels, lit by an elevated glass roof lantern, which marks the street corner.

Internally, the original concrete structure of the building is left exposed, a contrast to the selection of metals – zinc, aluminium, stainless steel – and the white glass and grey stone used for the circulation zone. The upper-level foyer and the cinemas are enriched with traditional vibrant reds.

The design responds to the symbolically powerful Napier Waller mosaics and figurative windows that line the domed Hall. The Tomb itself takes the form of an excavated tumulus, in red Rosso Daniel marble. The gilded inscription was hand-drawn and carved.

Four 11 metre tall freestanding pillars are placed in the adjoining niche, each symmetrical with the mosaic-clad mullions of the three major stained glass windows. These pillars represent, in material form, the four Platonic elements – glass for water, stone for earth, nickel silver for fire and jarrah timber for air. Their pure abstract presence enriches the representational complexity of the mosaic and stained glass, and the careful selection of materials, including pure white hand-cast glass, confirms the dominant red-gold colour of the original mosaics.

On 11 November 1993, the 75th anniversary of the Armistice, the Tomb was the focus of a full state funeral of the Unknown Soldier, exhumed from a World War 1 grave at Villiers Bretonneux in France.

Customs House is a significant heritage building dating from 1845. It was built in successive stages in a variety of differing Classical styles, reaching its pre-renovation stage after he enclosure of its internal court in 1918. The significant 19th Century sandstone fabric was extensively conserved, and unsympathetic additions removed to reveal as much as possible of the original courtyard space. The most important interior spaces were also restored, while other areas were left flexibly serviced for a variety of future cultural uses.

Escalators and new glass lifts created a vertical public promenade, catching unexpected views of the surrounding city through the fully glazed new south wall.

The high level of energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable design achieved for Customs House is unusual for a heritage refurbishment project. The design integrates sophisticated mechanical, lighting and solar control systems to enable virtually the whole building to be naturally ventilated and naturally lit.

The glass roof, floating above the upper levels, bring light deep into the six-storey atrium. Layered glass solar-control blades track the sun throughout the day and year, reacting to overcast and night-time conditions.

A significant element of the project was the reworking of the Customs House Square. This was the location of the pre-1848 shoreline of Sydney Cove, where European settlers first landed in Australia. The paving of the Square marks this line using the intersection of the building’s axial geometry with that of the adjoining streets.

As part of the Centenary of Federation, the School of Arts has been conserved, refurbished and extended. The project includes a range of cultural and community facilities for the town of Tenterfield. A new library occupies the 1912 Billiard Room, and includes a new wing accommodating the library book-stacks and offices. A 250-seat theatre and foyer, with full backstage facilities, is formed around the 1902 Boer War memorial Hall. The focus of the complex is the Henry Parkes and Federation Museum in the Original Hall and reading rooms.

The design articulates and functionally unifies the seven construction stages grouped around the sheltered central courtyard. The use of local red brick and the scale of the projecting bay windows unite the varied roof forms of the new and heritage buildings. The School of Arts is the focus for historical and cultural activity within the Tenterfield region and played a major role in the Centenary of Federation celebrations.