Faulkner house is a 1960’s tower and plinth building with retail on the ground floor and offices above. The building fronts onto Faulkner Street, whilst a blank concrete gable wall fronts onto York Street. The upper office block has weathered extremely well and its façade is well articulated. The ground floor plinth on the other hand is a mish mash of different materials. The retail unit on Faulkner Street/York Street has aged poorly and looks dated and over complicated. Materially, the façade is composed of large glazed windows set within white painted timber clad columns which look quite cheap and very mediocre. So in proposing a design solution we have tried to clear up the lines to create an uncluttered homogeneous volume.
We have re-clad the elevations in floor-to-ceiling high clear glass panels. Those panels are top and bottom fixed with vertical silicon joints. On York Street, we propose to bring the glazing in line with the building line of Faulkner House above. We have chosen glass as the main facade material to reflect onto the original lightness of the original ground floor elevation and to create bright and friendly retail units.
The two proposed retail units have level access from York Street. In line with the aspiration of the client to upgrade the whole street, the proposed retail units provide a clean modern design and add to the upgrading of York Street. The street does suffer from few openings, a lot of the facades are closed, so for the street as a whole we have created as much open and inviting spaces as possible.