Revised Design for Two Proposed Buildings in Newcastle

The project site is located on the west end of Newcastle, near the city center. Image credit: Tim J Keegan, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

01 November 2021 | Newcastle, Australia

Revised designs have been proposed for 854 Hunter Street East Tower and West Tower. Located at the west end of Newcastle, the projects’ site use to contain The Newcastle and Suburban Co-operative Society retail building. It was colloquially known as The Store. The Store use to be one of Australia’s largest and most successful co-operatives. It peaked in 1974, but was later phased out by suburban shopping malls. The New South Wales government ended up buying the site in 2015.

Doma Group was awarded a tender to develop the site through a competitive process. The developers had to gain permission to demolish the former Store site by submitting a Heritage Interpretation Strategy. They also had to collaborate with the Heritage Reference Group. Overall, the plans for the new site included the two proposed residential buildings along with 854 Hunter Street Office Building and Newcastle Bus Interchange which have already been completed.

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854 Hunter Street (Complex)

854 Hunter Street East Tower

854 Hunter Street West Tower

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Bates Smart

The changes Bates Smart made to their original design involved making the two towers less identical. This was achieved by making the two buildings have different heights. They also sculpted the tops of the buildings so that they would read differently from different angles. The project design references The Store’s original façade and window shapes, while the masonry work for the podium takes inspiration from other historical buildings in Newcastle.

For more on this story, go to ArchitectureAU.