Through the City of Sydney’s Design Excellence Competition process Lahznimmo architects, in association with SJB Architects, were the successful proposal for the Redevelopment of 333 Kent Street into a Hotel and Residential Tower Development for the Maville Bay Group.
Lahznimmo and SJB’s solution challenges the traditional horizontal division of program, which stacks the residential above the hotel, and instead creates an innovative vertical interlocking division of program. This allows the residential apartments to maximize solar access and a north east orientation to Kent Street. The strategy, in addition to providing better amenity for the apartments, increased the permissible residential yield possible under SEPP 65.
Northern and southern through apartments create two bookends to the building form, which are manipulated forwards and back to create oblique views for apartments, additional solar access and articulation along Kent Street. These elements have a protective terracotta skin, the solidity of which is juxtaposed with a subtly folding glazed façade.
The protective terracotta skin wraps around the western façade as a terracotta screen providing protection from the western sun. The earthiness and verticality of the terracotta is complemented by the balconies, which are clad in shimmering gold metallic panels, creating a series of horizontal stripes. The gold metallic panels extend up to the rooftop creating a crown for the building containing plant as well as recreational areas.
The original heritage façade on Kent Street is retained and refurbished providing a podium for the building. The transition from the old to the new is negotiated through a rooftop landscaped deck and pool. A canopy hovering over the heritage façade provides a frame to the façade as well as creating an urban scale window.