101 Collins Street

The expansive lobby of the new office tower at 101 Collins Street in Melbourne, Australia posed numerous challenges as it related to two different street levels and had several undefined large spaces. The building’s owners were not satisfied with several designs proposed by a variety of architects, and selected the scheme prepared by Jeff Sydness and his design team to complete the project. The lobby space, elevator cabs and tower entries were all included in the scope of the assignment.

The single most significant challenge of the project was to clarify the circulation. The design solution included the introduction of giant Doric columns to define the spaces more clearly and the addition of pools of water to fill the leftover areas adjacent to large expanses of glass that look out to gardens on each side of the tower.

A rich palette of materials was used throughout the project including marble, onyx and gold leaf panels. A selection of artwork was included in the design and galleries for viewing were created in large alcoves off the main lobby space.