Seven-story glulam building planned for Sydney
Seven-story glulam building planned for Sydney
Sydney, Australia-based architects Fitzpatrick + Partners say they are designing what could be Australia’s tallest timber commercial building at seven stories, according to a report by Architecture & Design. The building planned for Sussex Street in Sydney's central business district is at the detailed design phase, and would be constructed primarily from glulam. Fitzpatrick + Partners’ principal, Rod Pindar, said the main structure of the building would be a simple grid, with a façade pinned off the timber structure that would create a 'dramatic atrium space.'The glulam structural frame will be supplied by KLH in Austria, which also supplied the cross-laminated timber for the 10-story Forte tower built by Lend Lease. Frontages will feature a glass curtain wall that will be bolted straight on to the supporting timber structure.Pindar said the project grew from a company vision to design a multi-story office building entirely from timber. He noted that Fitzpatrick + Partners had dedicated significant research and development to timber applications in recent years, visiting timber factories, construction sites and buildings around the world.Glulam, which originated in Germany in the early 1900s, did not catch on in Australia until the 1950s. With the engineered timber industry is in its infancy in Australia, the company sees the Sussex Street project as a flagship for commercial timber construction.