The Anchorage Woolloomooloo

Eeles Trelease, Australia

The site was a former gas station, opposite the famous Woolloomooloo Bay Finger Wharf on Cowper Wharf Roadway. It is within walking distance of Sydney’s Central Business District and has dramatic views of the city, the Botanic Gardens, and the Naval Base to the east. The surrounding buildings are generally five-story warehouses now converted to apartments. The new five-story building has 15 apartments and a penthouse addressing three street frontages. Cars are parked in a basement car stacker built using a state‑of‑the‑art construction method, designed specifically for Sydney waterside conditions.

The north-west façade of the building follows the gentle curve of Cowper Wharf Roadway around the bay. With full floor-to-ceiling windows, the façade is protected by sunshades that filter the western sun while maintaining the view. Projecting floor slabs ‘ground’ the apartments and frame the horizontal and vertical sunshades — the elements all combine to reflect filtered light deep into the interior of each apartment. The sense of space in the apartments is remarkable, due partly to the exceptional light quality, but also due to large retractable walls which extend the vistas from within the apartments far beyond the edges of each room. 

The east and west façades both front onto smaller roads and are articulated to accommodate balconies and retractable Louvre blinds. These manage the low, hot eastern and western sun as well as provide privacy to the apartments. The penthouse occupies the entire top level and has spectacular views of the city and Sydney Harbor. The penthouse terrace has a roof precisely profiled to retain existing sunlight access to the adjacent buildings.

The building is an elegant, well-mannered addition to the curving street wall of Cowper Wharf Roadway at Woolloomooloo Bay.

Originally appeared in Modus News 7