Grimshaw’s new 27-storey workplace in Sydney, the Poly Centre, is a vital new component of the emerging Alfred, Pitt, Daley and George Streets (APDG) precinct, adjacent to Circular Quay.

The design is sculptural in form, and manifests as a tripartite composition: east-facing core, a 27-storey central tower facing westward, and an 11-storey tower formed by a series of cantilevered arches creating a sheltered public realm in dialogue with the street and this historically significant precinct.

The expressed vertical blades on the western façades shift in orientation to enable transparency to the street at the same time as shading occupants at different times of day. Internally, the Poly Centre is conceived as a series of vertical villages created by expansive double-height volumes that allow tenants to work and interact with the highest level of amenity but also a heightened sense of community. The interior utilises daylight in a way that enhances the community spaces within, a workplace, with people at the heart of the design.

Along George Street, a generous extension of the public realm is revealed beneath the podium cantilever. An elongated glazed canopy is delicately hung from the arching columns, and architecture of the soffit is reformed. Street fronting retail and hospitality is situated in double height volumes with each tenancy presented within individual shopfront assemblies.

The Lobby formed by a curvilinear wall, laminated in folding brass, contrasts the marble lift fronts, and enjoys a gentle illumination by a seamless fabric ceiling. An important new public artwork, Janet Laurence’s evocation of indigenous landscapes is suspended in glass panes above the corner atria.