Full-height view of the circular tower against deep blue sky, with Calder's black stabile at the base and banners. Portrait, wide-angle but not heavily distorted. 1432 px wide.

Australia Square

264 George Street, Sydney

Harry Seidler, with Pier Luigi Nervi. 1961 to 1967. Modernism.

Size
170 m, 50 floors, 42 m across
Material
Lightweight reinforced concrete, 20 tapering precast columns
Status
A State Heritage Register nomination is under consideration

Dick Dusseldorp of Lend Lease bought about 30 properties to make this block, and Seidler put a round tower on just a quarter of it, leaving the rest open so that the street wouldn’t become a dark canyon. Each floor is a doughnut around a 20 m core, spanning 11 m to the windows with no columns between, and each took five working days to build. When it was finished it was the tallest lightweight concrete building in the world. Seidler commissioned Alexander Calder for the plaza. It won a Sulman Medal and, in 2012, the National Award for Enduring Architecture.

Read about Modernism in Sydney

Sources

  1. Australia Square, Docomomo Australia
  2. Modern Movement Architecture in Central Sydney: Heritage Study Review (2019), City of Sydney / Tanner Kibble Denton
  3. Australia Square, Sydney, State Library of NSW
  4. Australia Square, Wikipedia
  5. Australia Square (consultation), NSW Government, Have Your Say