by Brianna Crandall — March 1, 2013—Joint venture developers Frasers Property Australia and Sekisui House Australia recently completed the most complex part of the construction process in building Australia’s first residential heliostat, dramatically cantilevered from the Jean Nouvel-designed One Central Park development on Sydney’s Broadway. A 110-tonne steel frame was lifted 100 meters into the sky above Broadway and fixed to the side of a residential tower.
The monumental steel reflector frame structure was raised by builder Watpac Construction and the world’s strongest tower crane in a “delicate and scientific exercise in precision engineering” onto a cantilevered steel structure extending out from One Central Park 100 meters above the ground. Once completed, the monumental cantilever will support a heliostat, a spectacular lighting artwork, and a garden terrace as part of the visionary redevelopment of the old Carlton & United Brewery site in downtown Sydney.
According to Frasers Property, the expansive Sky Garden will be a unique architectural feature with outdoor dining and a plunge pool for exclusive use by residents of Sky at One Central Park. A heliostat will be affixed to the bottom of the cantilevered Sky Garden, reflecting sunlight to One Central Park’s retail atrium and obliquely toward Chippendale Green during the day. At night, the heliostat transforms into a monumental piece of public art, with almost 3000 colored light-emitting diode (LED) lights creating a dazzling light display designed by French lighting artist Yann Kersale.
Frasers Property notes that a heliostat is an apparatus containing a movable or driven mirror, used to reflect sunlight in a fixed direction, that is commonly used in solar plants. According to a DesignBuild Source article discussing the development, engineers and designers are starting to use smaller versions in building designs to improve daylighting and heating.
Once the reflector frame was in place, the next complex task commenced of affixing 320 large mirrored panels to the enormous reflector frame. Each mirror is fitted with nine LED colored lights. At night, the heliostat’s 2880 LED lights will theatrically illuminate the towers, creating a “shimmering firework of movement in the sky.” The lighting installation is one of the large-scale permanent artworks that comprise Central Park’s $8 million public art collection; Patrick Blanc’s 21 vertical gardens affixed to One Central Park’s north and east façades is another.
Frasers Property Australia Chief Executive Officer Guy Pahor said, “Jean Nouvel’s design for One Central Park is truly visionary, integrating light, art and iconic architecture. The highly anticipated installation of the heliostat brings us closer towards seeing this masterful design become a reality.”
Construction of the cantilevered Sky Garden comes just ahead of the private sales launch of Central Park’s most exclusive residence, Sky at One Central Park, which comprises the uppermost five levels of One Central Park’s East tower and features 38 luxurious penthouse and sub-penthouse apartments, ranging in size from 120-200 sqm to 190 sqm.
