ONE of the earliest buildings designed by Harry Seidler, an eight level office building at 620 Harris Street Ultimo (Sydney) has recently been revamped at a cost of $1.5m – in the process almost doubling the owner’s investment.
Zone Architects (ZA) was able to preserve the integrity of the original design while providing a stylish functional building at modest cost. According to ZA project director Craig Weatherby “The modest size of the floor plates (300m2) and the Ultimo location dictated a redesign that would be ideal for boutique agencies in the communications or advertising sectors. The outcome is a sophisticated interior fitout with young energetic appeal and a refurbished facade that looks smartly to the future.”
A significant challenge, and one that was not anticipated before the commencement of the renovation, was the need to demolish a basement shop and remodel the carpark to instal an electrical substation, when the existing electricity supply to the area was found to be inadequate (this is often an occupational hazard of urban renewal in older inner Sydney areas). In the process a number of car parking spaces were unfortunately lost.
The existing 2.7m head height was inadequate for this purpose, and compact excavation equipment was brought in to lower the basement by half a metre, and dig the necessary pits. This process cost an additional $200,000 and delayed the project two months.
A fire-rated wall was required for fire separation in the basement. As the original spandrels were demolished on the ground floor, removing the basement windows would have marred the external appearance of the building, so colourback glass was installed in the false windows to disguise the solid wall behind them.
Changes were required to the exterior on the ground floor. The original building had brick infill panels topped by windows, and for all but the ground floor, a clever choice of paint colour for the sills and surrounding columns modernised the appearance.
The half height ground floor sills were demolished and full height frameless windows were installed in the openings. These were framed with compressed fibrous cement sheets that were painted to continue the external theme and upgrade the façade whilst respecting the original form of the building.
As with buildings of this age, the Seidler building needed provision for air conditioning and an upgrade to power and lighting as part of the refit, and this was difficult within the constraints of the 2.7m head height.
ZA opted for an industrial feel, with exposed galvanised steel air conditioning ducts hung from the underside of the floor above. Although the ducting was a standard design, extra care was taken with the finish because it was exposed. Ladder racks were piggybacked on the ducting to carry power, phone and communication cable, with umbilicals to the work stations, to complete the industrial feel. The layout of the ducts across the ceiling formed part of the architectural detail, to ensure that it contributed to, rather than detracted from, the overall appearance and theme of the refurbishment.
The use of exposed services not only fits in with the industrial feel, but also is very effective in terms of cost and completion time.
The end result of sympathetic treatment and attention to detail from the architects is a building that retains the basic architectural design of the original structure but has a contemporary feel with modern amenities. The refurbishment was cost effective, and considerably enhanced the investment of the owner, while also proving an excellent investment in terms of the type of tenant (and rental value) that it has been able to attract.