Qantas House


Qantas House is an Australian heritage-listed office building at 68–96 Hunter Street, Sydney. It was designed by Rudder, Littlemore & Rudder and built from 1955 to 1957 by Concrete Constructions Pty Ltd. It is also known as No. 1 Chifley Square. The site was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 May 2001.

History

The airline Qantas saw a surge in activity in the years following World War II, and the company had achieved stature as a major world airline. Qantas House symbolised Australia's progress in aviation generally and the aeronautic future of Qantas Airways in particular. The construction of the building during this period reflected the increasing importance of international travel to the increasingly affluent middle class in Australia. The building was opened by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 28 October 1957.
In its new company headquarters, Qantas wished to project a progressive image with the use of the latest imported curtain wall technology combined with Australian materials such as granite, marble and a variety of timbers. Qantas House was the first office building to use Australian black granite from Adelong and Bookharn green granite from the Yass area. Marble was sourced in the country town of Mudgee and the Wombeyan Caves area. Queensland maple was used extensively throughout the building and other timbers featured included walnut, mahogany and sycamore. As well as being chosen for aesthetic and patriotic reasons, there were economies to be achieved through the use of materials which could be found close at hand.
The desire to reflect a specifically Australian character was rare in office interiors of the 1950s. In keeping with the prevailing International style, the Australian theme in Qantas House was reflected more in the choice of materials than in the way they were used.
In her report Post World War II Multistoried Office Buildings in Australia , Jennifer Taylor states that the 'aesthetic ideas informing the design of multistoried office buildings in the '50s and '60s in Australia essentially belonged to architectural traditions developed in the Bauhaus, Germany in the late 1920s and early '30s and transported to America after the closure of that school by the Nazi government, where they blended with America's own traditions associated with multistoried building design. These ideas form the mainstream of architectural modernism, and are characterised by a value placed upon clarity, rationality, honesty, efficiency, functionality and technology. The external skin of the building was often the vehicle for a potent expression of such values. The glass curtain wall was prized as representing the complete release of the external fabric from its structural role'.
Buildings demonstrating the new curtain wall technology began to appear in Australian cities, particularly Sydney and Melbourne, from 1955. Qantas House, with its sweeping curtain wall attached to a reinforced concrete frame, is therefore an early example of the influence of this contemporary American technology and aesthetic in Australia. The building is significant in that it embraced this construction and aesthetic within the constraints of the 150' height limit which remained in place in Sydney until 1963.
As might be expected during a period of expansion, investment in office buildings had been growing during the late 1950s. In general, however, the buildings themselves were of low budget and limited dimension. They were usually infill structures of limited height, were built right to the building line and provided minimal pedestrian amenity. Context was generally seen as inconsequential and plazas associated with these buildings tended to divorce rather than unite the building with the city.
Within this context, the curved form of Qantas House, which addresses and shapes Chifley Square, is rare. Its form broke from the standard flat facade of most contemporary office buildings with its sweeping glass wall and dramatic cantilevered entry awning. Its curved fagade and more three-dimensional aesthetic distinguish it from the other buildings in the area.
Taylor also states that, at their most progressive, "the new office blocks principally were ree-standing or virtually so, and by 1957 Australia could boast designs as aesthetically and technologically advanced as any outside America, and not far behind developments there. An interesting hybrid of infill and freestanding solutions occurred in response to certain sites, notably corner locations, where innovative buildings appear to strive to break free of the constraints of the physical restrictions. The curving forms of the Qantas Building... provide the most exuberant example."
Australia's affair with these early curtain walls was short-lived, and they reached their peak of development and prestige in the early 1960s.
Qantas House was judged the best new building in the British Commonwealth by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1959, and was awarded the Bronze medal.

Description

Qantas House is distinguished by its graceful, segmented, curved facade which consists of a 46m high, double glazed curtain wall of green glass with enamelled blue-green steel spandrel panels. It is located on the western side of Chifley Square which itself is located at the intersection of Elizabeth, Hunter and Phillip Streets in Sydney. In following the curve of Chifley Square, the building's plan respects the semi-circular form which was proposed for the northern side of the square in its original design of 1908. Qantas House is still a distinctive feature of Chifley Square and its curved form provides a welcome pedestrian area at the front of the building.
The building was designed in the post war International Style. The base, middle and top of the building are differentiated by changes in the facade treatment.
The base consists of a double height foyer which incorporates a mezzanine level. On the facade, the volume of this space is differentiated from the upper levels of the building by the use of dark green and black polished granite cladding and by the large, uninterrupted panels of glazing set in bronze frames. The eleven storeys of the middle section of the facade are characterised by the repetitive pattern of the smaller aluminium-framed curtain wall panels. The curtain wall is composed of vertical standard sections which include awning windows at their tops, central panels of fixed glazing and enamelled steel spandrel panels at their bases. At the northern end of the building is a full height sandstone faced wall on which a vertical "Qantas Airways" sign was originally located. The sandstone facing returns in a long band to form the top of the fagade composition, providing an exciting demarcation of the building against the sky. Above this band, a recessed roofline contains staff facilities and a rooftop recreation area.
The reinforced concrete structure of the building is relatively conventional. However, the planning is noteworthy in that the service cores are asymmetrically placed adjacent to the boundaries with the adjoining buildings. This allows for the inclusion of a light well at the rear of the building, ensuring the penetration of light deep into the interior. It also means that the curved line of the building against the sky is not interrupted by vertical projections of centrally located service cores.
The planning may also have resulted from a desire to maximise the available building envelope - the building appears to have reached the maximum floor space ratio and maximum height which were allowable under the planning codes at the time.
At its south eastern corner, the building joins Emil Sodersten's 1936 City Mutual Life Building in a carefully considered and sensitive manner. The polished granite base course below the foyer windows respects the line and material of the base of Sodersten's granite clad building. In addition, the proportions of the fenestration of Qantas House's curtain wall panels and the steel framed windows of the WL building are similar.
In successfully taking advantage of its corner site, Qantas House also forms an elegant termination to the long view northwards along Elizabeth Street. The exterior of the building is in near original condition, the only notable changes having been the loss of the original cantilevered entrance awning and original exterior signage and the formation of a new entrance to the lift lobby at the northern end of the building. Internally, the double height volume of the foyer is intact although the current recent fitout has resulted in some partitioning of the space. The original curtains to the office and foyer levels have been removed or replaced with vertical drapes. Originally, the building interior featured Australian grown timbers such as sycamore, mahogany and walnut. The exterior of the building generally retained its original appearance as of 2001, except that the original cantilevered entrance awning and external signage had been lost. The archaeological potential of the building is low.

Modifications and dates

  • 1964/1965 – Alterations and additions. WC and bathroom to ground floor.
  • 1966/1967 – Storeroom, fourth floor. Extensions to building.
  • 1982/1983 – Refurbishment of building by Stephenson and Turner, Architects. A separate entrance to the office floors was formed at the building's northern end. The facade was repaired and restored.
  • 1988/1989 – Alterations to ground floor and mezzanine.
  • 1992 – Modification of ceiling, north fire stair and basement. Installation of revolving door. Entrance awning. The original sweeping cantilevered entrance awning has been replaced with the current unsympathetic awning.
  • Signage – The original 'Qantas Airways' signage from the sandstone wall at the northern end of the building has been removed along with the neon signage from the rooftop over the building's northern service core.