Koichi Takada Architect’s design for Sydney by Crown, focuses on providing a building that both enhances the existing street-scape and provides an iconic and recognizable addition to Sydney’s skyline. Inspired by the masonry character of significant heritage buildings and their characteristic arches, a duality is introduced to the facade, represented by the varied aesthetics of the podium and tower. The through-site link comprises an eight-storey atrium and is designed to enrich and regenerate public amenity in this area of the CBD. The sculptural tower element floats above the podium, shaping the skyline with a gentle and organic form.

The design is exciting, innovative and unique and is intended to set a new benchmark for architectural design in the western skyline of Sydney’s CBD. It represents a shared outcome that captures the objectives of the council controls while allowing an imaginatively refined design.

Organizing a total of 220 apartments, including 42 serviced apartments, Koichi Takada’s scheme focuses on a design that enhances both public and residential amenity. A ground plane opens to Kent and Clarence Street, with an arcade activated by retail and commercial uses. The apartments on the lower levels are protected by recessed balconies, defining a visual and spatial identity similar to a New York loft.

In Koichi Takada Architects, they learn from the processes, formations, structures and natural life in the environment to inspire their design. They state that nature teaches them and there is more to architecture than the creation of beautiful forms – it must involve all of our senses. The feeling of a soft breeze, the acoustics in a cave or the ambiance of natural light through a tree canopy – these are elements they try to involve in the experience of architecture.