November 23.2015
One Central Park is a vibrant, living landmark in what was once a derelict
brewery site in downtown Sydney. One year on, this collaboration between French
architect, Jean Nouvel and French botanist, Patrick Blanc is a blossoming
vertical landscape, helping to redefine Sydney's latest cultural precinct.
Landscape is
architecture. So at One Central Park, we have created a kind of continuity
between the park and the buildings, so the facades literally extend the park
into the sky."/Jean Nouvel
One Central Park combines a number of sustainable design strategies,
generating one of the most environmentally efficient residential towers in
Sydney to date. Botanist Patrick Blanc's vertical garden system consists of
hydroponic walls and planting panels integrated into the building's façade
structure. The vertical landscape provides natural solar mitigation for
apartment areas, and continues along the horizontal plane to the south of the
building, forming a green corridor at the lower level plaza, connecting the
building to terraced gardens and parklands, complete with restaurants, cafes
and areas for meeting friends and relaxing.
Although of vastly different statures, the 34-story
residential tower maintains a constant visual dialogue with the more modestly
sized 12-story serviced apartment tower, not only through a shared language of
vertical green spaces, but also through the constant reflection of sunlight and
artificial light from mirrors fixed atop the lower tower and impressive
cantilevered terraces featuring a motorized heliostat erupting westward from
the taller residential tower. The terraces also offer impressive panoramic
views for residents. At night, the atmosphere of the cantilever is transformed
by a custom LED lighting design by French artist, Yann Kersale.
One Central Park has already received a number of important accolades for
innovation and sustainability, including '2014 Best Tall Building in Asia and
Australia' and '2014 Best Tall Building in the World' from the Council for Tall
Buildings and Urban Habitat, as well as the '2014 Leaf Award'.
One year since completion, the iconic One Central Park is both literally
and visually flourishing, with many planted flowering varieties in bloom and
residential and retail areas bustling with life. Ateliers Jean Nouvel's One
Central Park provides a statement for a future vision of Sydney built on the
vibrant and harmonious synthesis of natural and urban environments.
