Hotel guests are welcomed by a lively scene in the lobby that is parallel to its street side jazz bar accessible to both guests and locals. To protect patrons from the harsh sun and provide some privacy, lush greenery has been integrated into the edge of the Mary Street. This design decision was deliberated to incorporate it as part of the emerging Brisbane downtown area to give guests a dose of the local culture and the tower’s tenants a sense of place. Inside, hotel guests can enjoy 299 rooms for the five-star Westin hotel on the first 17 levels, along with other hotel amenities such as wellness spas, restaurants, and bars. For more its residents, they can choose between 186 one-, two-, or three-bedroom apartments between the 18th and 36th levels.
Photo: Mark Nilon
“The porte cochere has been moved to the inside of the site to allow the food and beverage venues to take center stage and spill out directly onto the street for outdoor dining all year round. The arrangement encourages the use of the ground plane by neighborhood locals as well as residents of the apartments above the hotel, who also enjoy access to some of the hotel’s five-star amenities,” said project design leader Mark Damant.
The tower’s three-story podium is covered with a glazed façade broken up by a black steel window treatment which furthers its inviting aura by letting pedestrians take a peek inside. Concrete slab porches allow for guests to people watch and enjoy the indoor-outdoor relationship the city’s architecture is famous for. To bring some life to the colder materials, landscaping dots the curved porches. The tower is recessed from the podium to lessen the impact of its strong architectural elements, which are characterized by narrow undulating volumes covered in jagged glass elements.
Mary Street is located between two major projects that are currently under development: Queens Wharf and the proposed Eagle Street Pier. As such, it has been devised to be a pedestrian link though to block to Margaret Street.
Sydney, Australia
Queenstown, New Zealand
New York, New York