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One Barangaroo: Sydney’s tallest tower and most prominent destination hotel

Wilkinson Eyre Architects

Hospitality  /  Completed
Wilkinson Eyre Architects
In 2013, WilkinsonEyre won an international design competition for the new Crown Hotel in Sydney. The brief was to create a high-quality, landmark design on the spectacular harbour site to capture the vibrancy of Sydney and create a strong new destination on the waterfront. Since completing in December 2020, One Barangaroo has become Sydney’s tallest tower and the city’s most prominent destination hotel.

The scheme successfully integrates multiple offerings, from signature chef fine dining, vibrant bars and club spaces, to peaceful spa and yoga gardens and rooftop infinity pools. A range of residences with bespoke interiors by design firm Meyer Davis bring a highly-desirable addition to the property market, and for the first time, visitors to Sydney will be able to indulge in a six-star hotel experience with unrivalled views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

One Barangaroo forms part of the wider transformation of Barangaroo, a significant urban renewal project of a disused industrial site on the western waterfront of Sydney’s CBD. As the site occupies a prominent position on Sydney Harbour, careful consideration about how to activate the water’s edge and produce a positive contribution to Sydney’s skyline was required. WilkinsonEyre worked closely with the Barangaroo Delivery Authority (BDA), the government agency responsible for the development and management of the Barangaroo precinct, to understand local cultural, environmental and economic issues to deliver a sensitive and appropriate scheme that aligns closely with the vision and development of the Barangaroo waterfront.

The main design concept is based on a narrative for an “inhabited sculpture” comprising three petals; the first peels out to form the main hotel accommodation and associated facilities, while the remaining two twist and rise together to form a residential tower.

Standing at 275m tall, the building provides an impressive new visual marker for the waterfront’s regeneration at the northwest corner of the City’s main CBD. The sculptural form of the building responds to the sensitive site on Darling Harbour by catching the light in different ways throughout the day, creating a refreshing contrast to the orthogonal geometry of the buildings in Sydney’s CBD. A curvilinear four-storey podium with protruding terraces is set behind a delicate veil of marble tracery which provides shade and lightens the appearance of the podium.

One Barangaroo accommodates a 60-degree twist in the outer skin with variably inclined helical columns around the perimeter, while maintaining a vertical core. This unique structure has left every level with a unique floorplate, presenting opportunities to maximise accommodation, natural light, ventilation and spectacular views across Sydney Harbour. Emphasis has been placed on the seamless integration of interior and exterior spaces to make the most of the temperate climate and waterside setting.

At ground level, the building is articulated to align with key routes from the waterfront to the west towards parks to the east and north, by allowing natural permeability through the site. High-end café’s, bars, shops and restaurants line the promenade affirming Barangaroo as a new world class destination for Sydneysiders and visitors alike.

From initial outline concepts, to the successful delivery of the State Significant Planning permission and construction onsite, WilkinsonEyre have communicated the design vision with clarity for the City and to local interest groups while ensuring a wide range of stakeholders are positively engaged.

During the build of One Barangaroo, Crown have significantly contributed to the clean-up and remediation of the Barangaroo precinct and over 300 trees have been planted within the grounds. One Barangaroo has created over 2,000 jobs for New South Wales and celebrates local craftmanship with hundreds of artworks by Australian artists on display.

One Barangaroo contributes to a new world-class tourist offering, helping Sydney to compete with other global destinations and become a landmark attraction for millions of international and domestic visitors.

Credits

 Sydney
 Australia
 Crown Resorts
 12/2020
 146500 mq
 Chris Wilkinson/ WilkinsonEyre (Architectural Design Lead), Bates Smart (Executive Architects)
 Chris Wilkinson, Conor Worth, Alex Kyriakidies, Meyer Davis (Interior Design), St Legere (Landscape)
 Lendlease Building
 QS; WT Partnership, Facades/Environmental/Traffic: Arup
 Tom Roe & Lynton Crabb

Curriculum

WilkinsonEyre, led by founding directors Chris Wilkinson and Jim Eyre, is a global architecture practice whose portfolio spans a broad range of elegant and transformational projects; from international infrastructure schemes to sculptural tall buildings, world-class culture projects and prize-winning bridges. The thread linking its work is outstanding architecture underpinned by attention to detail, engineering innovation and sustainable technology. Project highlights include destinations such as the Guangzhou International Finance Center, one of the tallest buildings in the world and the landmark, cooled conservatories for Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay which has become one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world.


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