Australia Square was one of the first modern international styled office towers in Australia.
It was designed by one of Australia's and the world's leading architects, Harry Seidler who
was awarded the Royal Australian Institutes of Architects Gold Medal in 1976.
It established new principles in design and construction through its distinctive circular form
and the creation of a large public open space at ground level.
The public space is established by a plaza that is set above street level and steps down throughout
the site and defined on the east by a 6 storey rectangular building acting as a foil to the
circular tower. The public areas include cafés, fountains, artwork (Le Corbusier tapestries,
Calder Sculpture) and as one of the earliest examples of the development of comfortable public
open space on private land.
The structural system was developed with one of the world's leading engineers, Pier Luigi
Nervi, and features technological advances of the time such as patterned ribbing and tapering
exterior columns in quartz faced pre cast concrete as permanent formwork. The tapering columns
add emphasis to the height of the tower further emphasising its elegance. At the time it was
built in 1961 - 1967 the tower was the world's tallest light weight concrete building.
The circular form was structurally extremely efficient and the consistency of floor plan,
the use of precast façade and in-situ core lead to floors being erected in 5 working days
which set new standards in office tower construction.
Australia Square Tower is an elegant building which has maintained its aesthetic appeal
and is still regarded as a landmark building in Sydney and an icon of
Australian architecture