NSW Government Offices

2012-2013

NSW Government engaged rk-d to design a new workplace inside one of the oldest sections of Sydney Central Station.

Located on a busy, inner city street corner, the new office successfully combines sensitive heritage restoration and contemporary workplace design, using sustainable design principles.

A combination of open plan, cellular and touchdown spaces offers a variety of alternate work settings. Every staff location is close to natural daylight. A 20 person conference room, staff amenities and facilities are located in ‘secondary’ and ‘tertiary’ space. A dilapidated staircase was demolished and repositioned centrally to allow for better circulation and enabling both floors to be contiguous.

We removed an existing lay-in grid ceiling to expose a former period ceiling. We felt it was important to celebrate the building’s rich history and to uncover this once forgotten feature. The added volume has a dramatic effect on the impression of additional light and space.

The ceiling dates back to 1917 when the space had been formally used by the staff credit union.

We also decided to strip back the interior walls to expose the original building fabric. Understated natural finishes juxtapose the raw brickwork and sandstone.

Collaborating with our engineers we significantly improved indoor environmental quality by modifying an existing air conditioning system, replacing fluorescent lighting with LED and reducing excessive street noise with secondary glazing.

Together Transport for NSW and rk-d have transformed this former under-utilized facility into a progressive, sustainable office environment.

This project was shortlisted for 2014 Australian Interior Design Awards, under Workplace category.

Credits

Client: NSW Government
Gross Internal Area: 500m²
Interior Architect: rk-d
Project Management: Transport for NSW
Structural Engineer: Northrop Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd
Services Engineers: Northrop Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd
Main Contractor: ISIS
PCA: Group DLA
Acoustic Consultant: Acoustic Dynamics
Heritage Consultants: Office of Rail Heritage, Sydney Trains
Photography: Stefan Trajkovski