studio505 were commissioned by ISPT to design the facade for 155 Queen Street, in the heart of Brisbane’s CBD. The materiality and geometry of the facade creates a unique urban character to this new dynamic development, whilst maintaining a subtle and considered relationship with <a href="https://db-a.co/projects/wintergarden-facade/">studio505’s Wintergarden</a> and the adjacent Grand Regent heritage building facade.

Traditional Custodians of the Land

Location

Status

Client

Facade Architect

Base Building Architecture

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(Concept)
The key aesthetic explored in the new art screen is the metamorphosis from the geometric to the organic. This metamorphosis describes a transition between the underlying rigor and simplicity of the pentagon grid and panels on the southern side to the progressively more organic butterfly shaped panels to the north.
(Transformation)
The double pentagon’ or ‘bow-tie’ art screen façade panels are articulated to the south as a series of rigid geometric pentagons which gradually fold open until they are fully opened to an almost perpendicular position to the building’s façade. From this position they morph in a way that’s reminiscent of Escher’s ‘Metamorphosis’ drawings into more organic butterfly-like forms.
Employing a similar sensibility in both materiality and geometry to the butterfly found on Wintergarden, here it creates a harmonious relationship between the two facades. Appearing to both take off and land from either facade, the butterfly creates a visual narrative between 155 Queen St and Wintergarden.
(Perforation)
Each of 155 Queen Street’s panels were perforated to allow natural light to pass through into the office space behind and also to create a cohesive visual identity from street level. studio505 researched various patterning techniques, drawing inspiration from famed Op-artist Bridget Riley. The end result is a geometric pattern that was distorted, pinched, bloated and morphed, that reinforced the relationship between abstract and organic, between geometry and fluidity.

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Malaysian Academy of Han Studies

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Wintergarden Facade

Queen Street Mall