Cairns City, Far North Queensland
Though Green Star achievements are not unusual in Australia’s capital cities, such a rating had never been achieved in a regional or tropical location and the teams’ local expertise helped set a new benchmark for sustainable building design in hot, humid conditions.
The urban context was the starting point of the design for the building form, choice of materials, streetscape, and environmental amenity. The building has been designed to balance the NLA and the government’s preferred plate size with the site constraint, and to maximize the environmental performance of the façade with minimal material usage and subsequent cost. The final form is linear and rectangular on a broadly East-West axis. This allows maximum solar shading with minimum applied sun shading.
The foyer has been conceived as a sheltered landscaped external space orientated to catch the breezes and to encourage interaction with the Cairns climate. Shared meeting rooms are located at ground level and are bookable online, to avoid duplicating them on every level and thereby reducing the air-conditioned building footprint.
Key design solutions implemented are delivering substantial energy and cost savings every year. At the same time, they are providing a healthier work environment.
The involvement of an entirely local team from the early stages has resulted in a cohesive building that has put Cairns on the sustainability map and raised the awareness of efficient design within the tropical city’s population.
Client
DPW/QGAO
In collaboration with
Cox Architecture
Year
2010
Value
80M
Services
Architecture, Interiors