CONSTITUTION PLACE | BATES SMART
Constitution Place is a vibrant, active urban precinct that brings together government and private offices, a hotel, laneway retail and new public spaces. It draws on the civic heritage and pastoral beauty of the Griffins’ vision, and exemplifies how thoughtful architecture can shift Canberra’s built fabric into a new era of robust and enduring design.
THE JOHN ANDREWS AWARD FOR COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE
CONSTITUTION PLACE | BATES SMART
Jury citation:
Bates Smart is awarded the John Andrews Award for Commercial Architecture for Constitution Place. Constitution Place is an architectural composition that skilfully plays an assured role in the Canberra architectural narrative: a composition that includes reflection on the city’s Griffin legacy and confidently carries a new character into the future.
Bates Smart has managed and intertwined the multiple responsibilities carried by this site into a work of contextual balance. The taller more formal commercial building on Constitution Avenue is the architectural equivalent of a superbly tailored suit.
The building to London Circuit responds to a different solar orientation and context as expressed through lower height, lighter colour, varied grids, textures, and reflectivity as it follows the curved London Circuit frontage. The facade facing the heritage Legislative Assembly building is scaled to its civic function and incorporates a colonnade and gridded masonry expression that references Canberra’s mid-century architectural exemplars.
Fundamental to the composition is the diagonal ‘eat street’ positioned at the development’s core. Eating, entertainment and service opportunities that exist symbiotically with the host buildings, the adjacent theatre and civic precincts, ensure a vibrant, socially sustainable and enduring contribution to the civic and municipal heart of Canberra.
AWARD FOR INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE
CONSTITUTION PLACE | BATES SMART
Jury citation:
Bates Smart receives an award for Constitution Place in the Interior Architecture category.
Bates Smart’s skilful control of this large and complex work is evidenced in its serene functionality contrasted by excitement in the interior spatial dramatics and the rich and varied materiality.
The office accommodation for ACT government incorporates a central atrium based on three circles, referencing the Griffins’ Plan. Functionally, the atrium provides natural light far into the interiors, and importantly also hosts social spaces, direct walkable bridges and stairs, and the essential ingredient ‘x’, of spatial excitement.
Office spaces are varied and open to capture external views, are bright with reflected light, use perforated screens to provide privacy where necessary and discrete panelling to ensure a comfortable acoustic.
The ground floor is publicly accessible and in these times of often overt security, is refreshingly designed to promote the openness and transparency of government. The public spaces are conceived in variety, scale, and detail to provide a friendly and accessible door to government.
The hotel and commercial building properly assumes a more sophisticated design response and material palette. However, the ongoing project theme of interior spatial drama and control exemplifies deft and sensitive design vision.
THE SIR JOHN OVERALL AWARD FOR URBAN DESIGN
CONSTITUTION PLACE | BATES SMART
Jury citation:
Constitution Place is a masterly contribution to the centre of the Griffins’ city beautiful vision for Canberra. Canberra’s municipal core between London Circuit and Vernon Circle is loaded with symbolism and as-yet largely unrealised potential for magnificent places to enrich the city’s heart. This development, however, grasps the city making challenges and provides a transformative response.
The urban design gestures are grounded in the Griffins’ vision and in a contemporary reading of the city context and future of this key precinct. The development provides a strong built form at the commencement of Constitution Avenue: the higher, more formal building mass marking the transition to City Hill.
The lower building to London Circuit is sensitively scaled and sited to create a diagonal through-site laneway. The laneway is compressed to provide a sense of theatre and friction; the intimacy is of value in a city notable for its vastly scaled avenues and public spaces. Appropriately, Lyric Lane provides pedestrian permeability and a slew of options for lunchtime workers and evening theatre crowds.
Well scaled parks punctuate the diagonal: a pocket park at Constitution corner is an intuitive focal point. The Legislative Plaza to the north extends Akuna Street vistas and its formal design references the Legislative Assembly.
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