The Foveaux Street project, located in Sydney Australia, retains an existing 1960s and 1970s sewing factory. The six-level concrete and brick earlier structure was stripped back to its basic structural elements retaining what was possible in the way of walls. The new structure is extended into an eight-level commercial building which provides the headquarters for a single tenant whose presence in this inner-city site enriches the continuum of employment in the area rather than the now-familiar gentrification with residential uses.

The low floor to ceiling heights in the old building were kept but enriched with the inclusion of a large internal atrium outside the extant structures. This space was only able to be planned facing west and south as the existing building to the premium positions for solar amenity. This constraint was harnessed as an opportunity for a significant glass art work by the artist Janet Laurence who required controlled sunlight for her art. Concrete brise soleil were carefully crafted to deliver a controlled light circumstance to the communal atrium which is shared further with the city via a south-facing window where there is no light entry but significant vantage for the street. Three large white lanterns augment the natural light in the center of the atrium and the entire space is a focal point to all of the office levels that face into it from every level.

A contemporary office environment has evolved where a relaxed engagement with the street for all office workers is enjoyed, as is the constantly changing artwork which sends a mood of the external climate penetrating through the core of every worker’s personal experience with their work-space.

A building which was earmarked for demolition is therefore one which is kept and renewed into a contemporary workspace and one which (unlike its predecessor on the site) is able to be imagined as useful and flexible for many years to come.

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Photography: Brett Boardman
Artwork: Janet Laurence