8 Chifley Square is a premium grade commercial office tower in the financial centre of Sydney’s central business district Sydney. The site is 1600sqm in area and is situated on the corner of Phillip, Hunter and Elizabeth Street facing north over Chifley Square.

The design concept was generated by the desire to create a highly stimulating twenty first century workplace in a building which contributes to the public domain whilst being energy efficient and environmentally sustainable.

70 percent of the site’s ground plane is publicly accessible with the first office floor plate elevated 20m above the ground. The so-called “reverse podium” at street level offers shade in summer and sun in winter and is a valuable extension of the city’s public realm. A café with generous provision for seating is provided for building users and passers-by. New York artist, Jenny Holzer’s scrolling lit text wraps the north western steel column creating a dynamic landmark in the centre of the city.

The core is pushed to the southern boundary of the site providing an unencumbered north facing floor plate, which maximises usability and flexibility. The core accommodates toilets, services risers, high rise and low rise (glass) lifts with fire stairs located externally as they don’t constitute gross floor area. Whilst flexible and providing abundant natural illumination, the resultant floor plate of 1000sqm net is considered small for a premium grade tenant. For this reason a series of 3 dimensional volumes was “carved” through the tower to provide more expansive environments or “commercial villages” with bigger floor areas.