4-6 Bligh Street Competition

The hotels location is characterised by minor urban spaces that create a disjointed urban experience. Although located in the heart of city, it lacked hotel attractants. Our design created its own identity based on the iconic beach culture and headland escarpments of the Sydney foreshore to become a new instagrammable focus to this part of the city.

PTW worked in collaboration with March Studio from Melbourne and Collins and Turner, tow firms who share a deep care about design in cities. The proposal responded to the unique character of this part of the city, where the collision of street grids generated urban blocks of singular sculptural form. At street level, our design proposed a forecourt ‘carved’ from the urban block to create a grand street address. Key hotel functions were located to take advantage of upper level views.

The design recognised the unique experiences of guests visiting Sydney which features sandstone escarpments, rockpools, beach and pool cultures. The concept is reflected from Sky deck rockpool level through the sandstone grottos at street level and into the underground pool grotto of the health club pool.

The expression of the podium and the tower was inspired by the fluted geometry of the Emil Sodersten City Mutual Life Assurance Building, extrapolating its filigree of vertical stone and glass elements into a crenelated pattern of folded ceramic screens. The same screens arranged through the base of the tower provided sun shading and privacy screening.

The design relocated the lobby as a sky lobby under a rock pool where guests checking in could see both the oceanic views of the Sydney escarpment and the rock pools for swimmers above.