Jury Comment
Australia Post – StarTrack House Sydney demonstrates genuine commitment to urban renewal by addressing longevity, useability and sustainability in an informed manner. Attention has been paid to intelligent use of glazing and solar power. The reduction of carbon emissions also highlights a comprehensive design approach that integrates environmental performance. The impact of these sustainable considerations has extended beyond the fitout to influence other advances within the entire project.
Design Statement
Australia Post’s workplace is spread across two large floors comprising five distinct “neighbourhoods.” Adopting a completely open-plan approach, the work settings see a greater focus on collaboration and connectivity. Prior to design, Carr Design Group was engaged to develop national design standards for Australia Post. These standards considered minimal redundancy created by future churn work and organizational change, consistency across Australia Post offices, reinforcement of brand values and measurable sustainability outcomes. This was developed and implemented, leading to significant changes. The Green Building Council of Australia requires 60 percent of workstations to be reachable by daylight; Australia Post achieves 90 percent. Carr Design Group looked at ways to refurbish the building for greater energy performance, replacing perimeter glass with high-performance glazing and creating the largest solar array in inner Sydney, with more than one thousand panels on the roof. The changes made reduce the building’s carbon emissions by 2,500 tonnes per year; equivalent to removing more than five hundred cars from the road.
The Award for Sustainability Advancement is supported by Dulux. The Australian Interior Design Awards are presented by the Design Institute of Australia, Diversified Communications Australia and Artichoke magazine. For more images of this project, see the Australian Interior Design Awards gallery.
Read Sing D’Arcy’s review of Australia Post by Carr Design Group.
