BVN Brisbane Studio at 12 Creek Street 'The Annex'

Specifications

Client
Dexus Funds Management Limited
Location
12 Creek Street - The Annex, Brisbane
Completion
January 1, 2013 — April 1, 2020
Services
Architecture, Interiors

Image View

Architecture, Interiors

The Annex, a tropical treehouse in the City.

Modest by name but ambitious by design, The Annex sits nestled amid Brisbane’s Eagle Street fig trees. It’s also the home of our BVN Brisbane studio.

At 12 Creek Street, covered outdoor spaces support quintessential Brisbane experiences.

The sense of being `in the canopy' extends into the studio

Inspirational Trees

When Dexus first engaged BVN to design The Annex at 12 Creek Street, we knew that the nearby heritage-listed group of historic fig trees would have to be central to both the design and daily life of building. The building is tailored to meet contemporary requirements for a connected workplace whilst embracing the qualities and identity of the site. The Annex is unique, identifiable, and enabling as a business destination.

Facade composition and detail adjusts above the canopy.

Terraces face the street to maximise engagement.

Leafy Inspiration

Every detail of the building is designed to connect with the adjacent fig trees, including the sense of ‘being under the canopy’, and ‘looking through the foliage’. Visible from each level of The Annex, the trees are ever present through long views down the street, and lovingly imbued in the architectural detailing. Glass ‘fretwork’ offers privacy and mimics the shifting patterns of the leaves.

Artist Robert Andrew's Public Art installation `Grounded in the Present' erodes concrete to reveal cast bronze mangrove roots referencing the ecological history of the site.

Life in the Fig Tree Grove

A new public place has been created under the canopy of the overhead form – extending through to the remade plaza of the existing Blue Tower and the laneway adjacent to the historic building Corbett Chambers. Oriented towards the fig tree grove; this lively space connects and enhances Brisbane's pedestrian network.

A series of terraces, landscapes and public seating, as well as dining and entertainment, promote social activity and outdoor gatherings. Back-lit laser-cut panels glitter over these spaces, evoking the sensation of dappled sunlight beneath the fig trees.

An abstracted canopy draws spatial qualities from the fig tree grove through into the new public plaza.

Gardens sit amongst folding terrain suggesting the 'outside' extends into the floorplate.

Cascading Gardens

Above the arrival plaza, nine levels of boutique tenancies are linked by an interconnecting stair to create workplace neighbourhoods. The facade of the lower six levels, is designed to allow for outdoor occupation. Awning windows give tenants the option for fresh air and a connection with the outdoors. It is a breathing facade that provides a genuine connection with the outdoors, promoting wellbeing.

The upper three levels are designed as a mantle for a cascading garden. The uppermost occupied level and roof volume provides cover to the Sky Terrace, an elegant beacon, identifying the building from near and far. As a rooftop seen ‘in the round’, it is made from perforated metal using the trademark fig canopy motif.

Our Very Own Treehouse

BVN has endorsed The Annex with its own tenancy, relocating the Brisbane studio in 2021 into Levels 3 and 4. It’s a joyful, leafy, sunlit space that invites collaboration, while maintaining malleable spaces for focused work against the backdrop of majestic fig trees. Bathed in sunlight, surrounded by greenery and entwined with nature, The Annex is a city pad and tropical treehouse perfectly suited to Brisbane’s sub-tropical CBD.

The tower rises above the fig canopy to become a planted, elevated trellis against the sky.

IMPACT

6 Storeys

Of operable naturally vented facade

5 Star

Green Star rating designed and built

5 Star

NABERS Energy As Built rating

4 Storeys

Of elevated trellised landscape

The perforated metal plant room and shaped meeting rooms act as a city scaled beacon.

The Process

View as Slideshow

Abstracted landscape motifs pervade the public plaza and tower in miniature compositions, material selections and detail.

Trellised edges are curved to form a subtropical frieze, capping off the lower `corner building' volume and creating a distinct elevation against the sky.

Abstracted Fig tree foliage motifs are used in the glazing and cladding recreating the experience of dappled sunlight through play of light and shadow.

The building section supports a new `Vertical Village'. Above the Arrival Plaza, twelve levels of boutique spaces are linked by an interconnecting stair to create workplace neighbourhoods.

The Process (Gallery)

Abstracted landscape motifs pervade the public plaza and tower in miniature compositions, material selections and detail.

Trellised edges are curved to form a subtropical frieze, capping off the lower `corner building' volume and creating a distinct elevation against the sky.

Abstracted Fig tree foliage motifs are used in the glazing and cladding recreating the experience of dappled sunlight through play of light and shadow.

The building section supports a new `Vertical Village'. Above the Arrival Plaza, twelve levels of boutique spaces are linked by an interconnecting stair to create workplace neighbourhoods.

01 of 06

Credits

BVN

Brendan Doherty, Brian Donovan, Peter Eedy, Nathan Harry, Veronika Janovska, Lucas Leo, Kevin O'Brien, Roberto Oliveira, Patrick Querengasser, Michelle Rehn