Indi Sydney

Client: Oxford Properties + Investa

Indi Sydney is a build-to-rent tower located over the southern Gadigal Metro Station entry. It interprets its heritage context using contemporary masonry materials; while prioritising liveability and amenity over architectural form.

Context and Challenges: While Sydney is renowned for its sandstone civic architecture, Indi is located on secondary streets with more prosaic brick buildings. Located at the intersection of Pitt and Bathurst Streets, the context has a mix of low- and mid-rise polychromatic heritage brick buildings. The small ‘L’ shaped site wraps around the historic Edinburgh Castle Hotel, creating a challenging configuration for a residential building. The entry to Gadigal Metro Station occupies a large portion of the site, leaving a limited footprint for the building core and minimal street frontage for entry and activation. Massing Concept: The Bathurst Street podium steps down to transition between the Edinburgh Castle Hotel and the adjoining building, while integrating the tower into the composition. A large opening on Bathurst Street scaled to the height of the historic Hotel announces the Metro entry. The tower is expressed as four slender vertical volumes, each with a different masonry hue. The four volumes form a stepped profile on the skyline as they adjust to the solar access plane. A horizontal slab edge every three storeys references the scale of the surrounding heritage buildings and orders the stepping of the tower volumes. A vertical slot in the tower introduces light and ventilation to the lift lobby and communal corridors. Façade and Materials: Images of polychromatic brick were pixellated to evolve a palette of masonry hues from the historic context. Each colour is assigned to a vertical volume, breaking down the tower’s scale. Three storey masonry verticals use depth to express solidity while providing shading and privacy to residents. Each room has a specific window type to respond to internal amenity and privacy. Fine-scale steel detailing for balustrades and horizontal shades counterpoints the masonry’s prominence. Increased solidity in the podium provides the visual weight to support the tower above, while concealing the Station’s mechanical plant. On Pitt Street the podium is detached from the Edinburgh Castle Hotel to create a ‘laneway’ entry to the residential apartments. Functional Arrangement: The 6-storey podium largely contains mechanical plant for the Metro Station. Above that the tower consists of 30 levels of build-to-rent apartments, stacked between amenity floors at the top and bottom. The podium incorporates a co-working space and resident’s lounge/kitchen on level 2 and a wellness floor on level 6 with a pool located between a series of inverse ‘V’ shaped transfer structures over the Metro entry. The stepped top of the tower has a large outdoor terrace adjoining an indoor lounge and dining area. Typical residential floors have 8 or 9 apartments per floor, with six naturally ventilated corner apartments created via the offset volumes. Expressed off-form concrete provides an authentic expression of the jump-form core construction while minimising unnecessary linings. Louvres and custom ventilation flaps on the southern façade provide privacy to the adjoining apartments.