The AMP Centre was once the tallest building in Sydney, Australia. Today, the property owner seeks to replace this structure, built in the 1970s, with a new, larger, better, and more energy-efficient design.
However, the demolition of high-rise buildings often has significant environmental impacts, from construction waste to CO2 emissions produced by heavy machinery. Therefore, in 2014, AMP Capital (Australia) launched an unprecedented architectural competition with a unique requirement: Construct a new skyscraper without demolishing the old building.
The exterior architecture of the Quay Quarter Tower. (Photo: CNN)
Dubbed the first “recycled” skyscraper in the world, the new structure built on the framework of the AMP Centre was inaugurated early this year as the Quay Quarter Tower. On December 2, the Quay Quarter Tower was honored as the World Building of the Year 2022.
The Quay Quarter Tower stands at 206 meters tall, featuring 49 floors that have been extensively expanded while retaining over two-thirds of the old structure, including beams and columns, as well as 95% of the original building’s core.
The Danish architectural firm 3XN designed the Quay Quarter Tower. Fred Holt from 3XN shared: “In terms of longevity, the tower was nearing the end of its life, but the structure and framework of the building could actually last much longer.”
After removing the irreparable parts of the old building, construction workers created a new structure alongside it and then “fitted” it with what remained. A glass exterior was wrapped around both to create a unique skyscraper.
Workers also left a 4-meter gap between the new and old structures until the final construction phase, allowing the new concrete to stabilize before proceeding with the “fitting”.
The new design has doubled the available floor area of the building, thus increasing its capacity from 4,500 to 9,000 occupants.
The interior structure of the Quay Quarter Tower. (Photo: CNN)
The architects believe their method saved 12,000 tons of CO2 compared to demolishing the AMP Centre and starting anew, enough to power the building for over three years. In addition to reducing carbon-heavy materials like concrete, this plan also saved up to a year of construction time.
Mr. Holt quoted former President of the American Institute of Architects Carl Elefante: “The greenest building is the one that already exists.”
3XN’s creative director, Kim Herforth Nielsen, commented that from the outside, there are no clear traces of the AMP Centre from the 1970s. The same goes for the interior; the old and new sections of the Quay Quarter Tower have been seamlessly “blended”.
Mr. Nielsen added: “When you are inside, you no longer question where the old structure ends and the new structure begins. That is very important.”
