Sydney’s midtown has become a vibrant living quarter through the creation of Regent Place, Australia’s first vertical village. The design for a mixed-use development on Bathurst Street in the heart of the city transforms this key area into a lively urban hub where people can live, work and enjoy life in the city. Regent Place consists of two towers floating above a 5-storey sandstone podium that contains retail, commercial and leisure spaces.
The newest masterpiece by renowned British architectural firm, Foster & Partners, Regent Place incorporates 456 exclusive apartments (Lumiere Residences) and 201 serviced apartments (Fraser Suites), directly above the 5,400 sqm, 3 levels, shopping centre – Regent Place Shopping.
Integral to the design, and as part of the building planning conditions, Foster & Partners had to provide a public artwork in the buildings entrance. They commissioned Phil Goodwin, a Sydney based water feature architect with Waterforms International, to design a striking water sculpture to take centre stage at the building’s entrance.
The water sculpture is organic in design and provides a strong contrast to the disciplined geometric and organized style of Foster’s architecture. The sculpture includes a series of eleven craggy overflowing pools that reticulate 5000L/min of water flow between the pools and a balance tank located two floors below.
The lighting is a feature of the sculpture with 94 Anolis ArcSource6 RCWB LED underwater fixtures installed in the pools. They are controllable via an E:Cue e:node 512 wall mount user terminal, to provide color changes from night to night to ensure the sculpture maximizes its effect to the streetscape. The Anolis products were supplied by the brand’s Australian distributor, ULA, for whom the project was overseen by Con Nomikos from the Sydney office.
The Anolis fixtures were chosen specifically for this installation as they were unique in their ability to be completely submerged, due to a 316 stainless steel housing and a IP rating of 68, as well as their ability to provide programmable color change underwater. Additionally, the fixtures were customized for this installation to incorporate the color choices requested by the client – the fixtures feature 2 x Red, 2 x Cool White, and 2 x Blue LEDs. Waterforms International used this project as a pilot, and has already followed on the use of these fixtures in several other projects.
The Regent Place water sculpture has been a tremendous success since opening, and has established itself as a landmark in the Sydney streetscape with a constant stream of people taking photos of the night time effects created by the underwater Anolis fixtures. Both the developer, and Foster & Partners attribute the water sculpture to overall success of the development, and are more than happy with the result.
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