Jury comment
The jury applauded the idea that Campbell House’s identity comes from adaptive reuse and the pragmatics of light, air and ventilation. A new contemporary addition to the heritage house is sympathetic, and the inclusion of the central atrium works incredibly well in terms of solar access and climate control. It’s an elegant and unified outcome, especially in relation to the landscape blur and how this element of the design weaves through the space. Along with notable sustainability credentials, the building’s late-1800s heritage is celebrated to precision. One jury member commented that the interior has been treated as a soft, gentle place that looks like a nice place to work.
Design statement
Campbell House in Sydney is the adaptive reuse of an 1890s early Federation house set within a Heritage Conservation area. The integrated design approach of architecture-heritage-interior stitched together unifies the contemporary office use and the original building.
This project is an exemplar environmental design that is based on natural light, passive ventilation, material selection and electricity generation all facilitated by the new contemporary intervention. A glazed roof spans across the two existing roof ridges on the north of the site. Solar blades overhead absorb the northern sun via the use of photovoltaic panels to generate electricity while providing shade that keeps the interior cool. The glass roof allows maximum natural light to flood the core of the interior as well as breakout areas, while the solar blades minimize the heat load. Glass louvres positioned at both high and low levels on the north, south and west facades allow for passive ventilation to the circulation and breakout spaces. With interior biophilia in mind, conditions have been established to sustain a mature Weeping Fig tree.
Campbell House is located in Sydney, NSW, and built on the land of the Gadigal and Birrabirragal people of the Eora nation.
Project credits
Design practice – Tonkin Zulaikha Greer
Project team – Tim Greer, Nazia Kachwalla, Camilla Van den Berg, Roger O’Sullivan, Kevin Lee, Sara Valentin, Tracy Lau, Madeleine Gallagher
The Award for Workplace Design is supported by Laminex. The Australian Interior Design Awards are presented by the Design Institute of Australia and Artichoke magazine. For more images of this project, see the Australian Interior Design Awards gallery.
