tony owen partners clads apartment building with colorful mosaic windows in australia

typically, sydney’s sussex street precinct is the home of historic masonry warehouse buildings, but a new apartment building by tony owen partners seeks to fit in by making a colorful statement. mosaic, just completed, is a 14 story residential/commercial building consisting of a 4 story commercial podium with 37 apartment units above.

the lively façade is dominated by a mosaic of angled window bays in a palette of bright colors to liven up the quiet street. besides its colorful nature, the facade also has an environmental function. the site is surrounded by tall buildings and has limited northerly aspect so tony owen partners used parametric modelling to calculate the angles and direction of the sun at different times of the day, and designed the angle of the windows accordingly.

this way, the parametric technology enables a residential building to be designed on this lot, considering its sunny site conditions . the masonry podium similarly uses parametric geometry to reinforce the historic streetscape. the main lobby incorporates large areas of off-form concrete which complements the masonry colonnade and the ceiling is made of back-lit glass to dramatically bring additional light to the space. a feature wall reinterprets the faceted geometry in illuminated sandstone. the result is a highly sculptural yet contextual in-fill building.

project info:

project name: mosaic

architects: tony owen partners

project type: residential/commercial building

location: sussex street, sydney, australia