We added a glass box on top and Lucy Turnbull, the mayor of the City at the time wanted it all to be clear glass but we had it all in different colours. In the end, the new building sits on top of the old in a graceful way because it is of clear glass and we made it better by virtue of the Council's interventions. Greg, our client and friend created the opportunity with a steel form and we made hatches for natural air to enter the building, which most people enjoy.

The proportions are directly related to the old building and new and old meet in a relation that is obvious but abstract. Greg is in the building on level 8 (for good luck) and we are in the building on level 9 (for even better luck because we need it).

The "Street wall" of Castlereagh Street is a lively arrangement of stratified building programs over time. One of these buildings is the subject site and is read as the beginning of the narrative.

The dominant form of the historical building is geometrical, detailed in rendered masonry. The base, pilasters, cornice, and parapet provide the formal facade of the existing building and in turn prompt the nature of the new addition above. This new building is adjunct to the formal composition of the existing historical facade.

A lightweight steel curtain wall provides a counterpoint to the base building. The material characteristics are glass and white painted steelwork is composed in horizontal bands. The generous floor to ceiling heights allow natural sunlight into the peripheral and internal offices. Hatches in the facade allow natural ventilation into the building at specific points.