Coca-Cola Place, Commercial office building in North Sydney, Australia
Coca-Cola Place, originally The Ark, is a 21-level office tower at 16-40 Mount Street in North Sydney, designed by Rice Daubney and completed in 2010. It uses a podium-and-tower form with tilted facades and an open public forecourt at the entrance. The southern facade is almost entirely glazed, facing Sydney Harbour, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge; the cores sit on the north side.
Coca-Cola Place stands on the site of the former North Sydney telephone exchange. Rice Daubney recommended 16-40 Mount Street to Investa in 2006, after council planning changes raised the permitted floor space ratio. To win consent for demolishing the heritage-listed exchange, the developer pledged a pocket park, a forecourt, a three-metre street setback and public art. Construction began in late 2007 and Coca-Cola Amatil moved in early 2010, at an estimated cost of $230 million.
The building displays artworks by Freddie Tims alongside sculptures made from materials salvaged from the former telephone exchange. These pieces connect the site's past with its present use.
The entrance is set back three metres from Mount Street, with a public pocket park and forecourt open to passers-by. The southern facade is almost entirely glazed, giving harbour views toward the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. North Sydney train station is a short walk away.
During a dust storm in late 2009, a North Sydney resident called the police, convinced the tilted facade was collapsing into the street; officers made the builders produce site documentation before accepting it was intentional. Coca-Cola Place was also the first commercial high-rise in Australia designed and built using building information modelling.
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