Altair, Darlinghurst
Architect: Ian Moore Architects
Builder: Australand
Completion: 2000

From the architect: This 139 unit apartment development is located over the Kings Cross tunnel, bounded on 3 sides by Kings Cross Road, Ward Avenue and Craigend Street. The Western boundary abuts the podium of the Elan apartment building. The site offers dramatic 360 degree views of Sydney, from Sydney Harbour to the north, Botany Bay to the south, the CBD to the west and the eastern suburbs to the east. Being located over a 4 lane traffic tunnel this building has some unusual constraints in relation to structure and carparking. There is a precast concrete protective deck over the tunnel roof, which forms the lowest carparking level with a further 2 levels of above ground parking forming a 3 storey podium, built to the site boundary on all sides. Three lines of existing columns at approximately 8 metre centres are located on the north, south and centre of the tunnel below, with all building loads having to be transferred onto these columns. A further requirement for safety reasons was that the lift shafts be located over the central wall of the tunnel. As a result the lift cores do not provide any stiffness to the building as would normally be the case, and are in fact hung from the main building structure, which in turn is supported from a 1.5 metre deep concrete transfer structure at the upper level of the podium. The 2 upper level carpark slabs are also hung from the underside of the transfer structure. The 16 level apartment tower located above the podium has been designed as a narrow rectilinear block running east-west, allowing the majority of apartments to be north facing. There are 2 secondary towers located behind the 2 lift/service cores, containing units which have south/east/west orientation, and have no immediate neighbours due to the separation of the cores. The apartments have been designed to take full advantage of correct orientation and natural cross ventilation, combined with deep overhanging balconies and external aluminium louvres soleil providing sun-shading, so that air conditioning is not required in the building. There is natural gas heating available for winter should it be required.