Sydney’s tallest building, the 304-metre tall Centrepoint Tower, celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2021.
The building was designed by Donald Crone and Associates (now Crone Architects) in 1968 and was opened to the public after 13 years of construction in 1981. It can be seen from as far as the Blue Mountains and the Central Coast.
The tower was commissioned by landowner AMP at a time when suburban shopping malls were overtaking city department stores.
Architect Greg Crone, whose father designed the building, told ABC Breakfast radio, “This had a very big impact on the city itself. People were no longer coming into the city to shop so AMP, which owned the site, were going to develop a shopping centre where Centrepoint Tower is today but they were also looking for mechanisms or ways to attract people back into the centre of the city and that’s what this tower was designed to do.”
The tower stood for many years as the tallest in the Southern Hemisphere and is a member of the exclusive World Federation of Great Towers.
The building is both a feat of architecture and engineering. The shaft of the tower is only about 7 metres in diameter and was constructed using 46 prefabricated pieces placed on top of each other. It uses steel cables to stabilize itself.
“All those cables are straight, they just wrap around like a bicycle wheel and that stiffens the tower,” Crone said, “and on top of the tower there’s a water tank which stabilizes the tower and reduces movement within the tower itself.”
Westfield Group took ownership of the tower in December 2001. Today it attracts around 1.5 million people per annum. “That’s a huge contribution in terms of getting people and tourists into the city,” Crone said.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
