205 NORTH QUAY TOWER
Brisbane, Australia
CLIENT Cbus
PROGRAM Class A high-rise office building with premium services (auditorium, meeting rooms, outdoor swimming pool, wellness, end-of-trip amenities, and sky-terrace); restaurant, street-level food & beverage retail; and below-grade parking
AREA 73,000 m2 (786,000 sf)
SUSTAINABILITY 6 Star ‘Green Star,’ NABERS Energy 5.5 Star
COST US$457 million
STATUS Invited competition, first prize 2019; completed 2025
ARCHITECTS Hassell | REX | Richards & Spence
PERSONNEL Maur Dessauvage, Nazli Ergani, Matan Gal, Britt Johnson, Jarod Poenisch, Joshua Ramus, Raúl Rodríguez García (PL), Emma Silverblatt, Elina Spruza Chizmar, Yuxuan Tu, Teng Xing
CONSULTANTS Able Security Group, Access Consulting, Acoustic Logic, ADG, Altitude Facade, AMPFLO, Apex, Arcadia, Arup, Certis, Cundall Johnson & Partner, Bennett & Bennett, BG&E, Diversified, Ellis Air, EMF Griffiths, Firerite Services, Floth Pty. Ltd., Greencap, GTA, JHA, MBA Consulting Engineering, Perigon, RWDI, Schindler, Thwaite Consulting Group, TTM Consulting Pty. Ltd., Urbanite, Urbis, VAE, WSP, ZFS
CONTRACTOR Hutchinson Builders
INTERIOR DESIGNER Woods Bagot
Façade exterior view.
The building is veiled in a sunscreen of copper-colored ovals calibrated to their sun orientation to maximize the amount of glass and its transparency. The sunscreen performs like a façade with heavily tinted glass. At the same time, the rigidity of the ovals’ elliptical geometry uses less material than conventional fins and overhangs while blocking more solar heat gain.
Façade interior view.
The tower façade has one loop per floor, enhancing unobstructed views of the surroundings while maintaining the sun-shading performance. The veil loops, composed of four single elements, have an optimized depth to minimize Brisbane’s solar exposure for an optimal interior workplace ambient daylight.
Southeastern façade.
In order to comply with the local regulations, the required division of the façade is seen as an opportunity to provide outdoor spaces on the southeastern façade.
Southeastern balconies.
These balconies are carefully woven into the office landscape, enabling a physical relationship between the outside and inside workplace realm. Every second and third balcony is pulled backward so that an overheight gives the Tristaniopsis Laurina Tree (a native Australian eastern coastline tree species) enough space to flourish.
Main access plaza from Herschel Street.
The façade is drawn over the ground plane, surrounding it like a veil, and generating a protective plaza from the harsh Brisbane weather, lushly landscaped with local species.
Main access plaza.
The sky lobby and auditorium serve as points of interaction between visitors and the tower’s tenants. In the northernmost third of the podium, the existing Energex easement is used as a connection between Herschel Street and Makerston Street, allowing for a pedestrian-friendly and connected city.
Main access plaza at night.
The protective façade layer creates a covered open space that serves as a destination for programmatic opportunities, provided with casual food and beverage retail spaces and a formal restaurant.
Northwest façade.
Commercial and public programs span the building. A wellness floor is inserted as a buffer zone between the public podium and the office floors, including a full gymnasium and an outdoor swimming pool that takes advantage of Brisbane’s subtropical climate.
Roof terrace.
A remarkable triple-height roof terrace is inserted on floor forty-one, with direct views down the Brisbane River’s southwestern stretch and to Mount Coot-Tha.
