Built in 1940 as Paramount Studio’s commercial offices, this dilapidated, yet iconic Art Deco building in Surry Hills, was extensively restored and reworked over a nine-year period.
This project involved the extensive restoration, reworking and reconfiguration of an impressive, though unusable Art Deco building in Sydney’s inner city. Aside from a changing brief, the most difficult aspect of the design was the reworking of the courtyard as it involved the removal of a significant amount of the building’s fabric.
The redundant main loading dock was reconfigured into a new entry for the building, creating a large gallery space coupled with a grand new entrance from a side street. The central courtyard was converted into a glass roofed space, flooding the building with light. The old film vaults, once redundant space, now houses building services.
The design response included a new cafe and retail spaces fronting Commonwealth Street. The final brief allowed us to open up a great Sydney space to the public, with a garden lightwell to the rear, upper floor commercial offices and a rooftop cinema and bar. The space now breathes with light and air – a vibrant food, design, architecture, film and arts hub.
