The design approach was to fill the vast volume with small hi-tech pods, some one storey, some two storeys creating a miniature city of businesses just like a modern Kasbah.

In 1968, architect Harry Seidler designed the government Q-Store in the industrial suburb of Alexandria. Seidler’s deployment of Australia’s first space frame structure to carry the impressive 30 x 30m roof span and its extensive pop-up skylights minimized the interruption of the space with columns. This approach maximized the efficiency of the space through a very elegant structural device.

The new owners of the site sought to change the function of the space from industrial to high tech commercial, with a number of tenancies rather than just one.

Sections of the roof above the space frame are removed to create light wells and internal courtyards throughout the space.

Location: 47 Bourke Road, Alexandria NSW, Australia 33°54’42.58″S, 151°11’34.07″E
Date: 2009
Design team: Thierry Lacoste, David Stevenson, Alicia Bayl
Landscape architect: JMD Design, Anton James
Heritage architect: Urbis, Stephen Davies, Fiona Binns
Photography / images: Urbis-Stephen Davies, Fiona Binns