Commonwealth Bank Darling Square

Sight-specific Solution

With manufacturing partner Metal Concepts, we designed and delivered Ombrae panels for cladding an above-grade parking garage of the CommBank Headquarters in downtown Sydney. Faced with ensuring enough through-hole percentage for adequate natural ventilation, we addressed further requirements from the client to visually block views into the garage from specified key vantage points. The client owned offices on adjacent properties, and did not want to see into the interior of parking garage from those locations. Through a combination of artistry and technical advancements, we designed a custom panel layout which occludes interior views from those identified areas.

Situated within a revitalized part of Sydney that includes museums, libraries, luxury residential, and future-forward office spaces, the Ombrae exterior treatment enhances the public realm, contributing meaningfully to its sense of place.

Client: Lendlease
Architect: Woods Bagot
Size: 25,000 sqft (2,300 sqm)
Completion Date: 2016

Manufacturing Partner:
Metal Concepts

DESIGN STRATEGY

Optimized for Key Views

The input artwork for this project was inspired by a textural image of Donnybrook Sandstone, a historically significant building material in this part of Australia. The texture was arranged into a randomized tiling pattern. The Ombrae panels were then optimized to occlude views into the interior from the key viewing angles (below).