Aurora Place

오로라 플레이스

Renzo Piano's 41-storey glass tower in Sydney (2000): a D-shaped glass 'sail' whose roof slants down from a dark spine edge topped by a mast, with a residential wing of rust-red louvres and a glass drum in front.

See it on the 3D globe →

At a glance

Country: Australia
Location: Sydney, Australia
Built: 2000
Height: 218 m
Type: Skyscraper

Quick answers

Where is Aurora Place?

Aurora Place is in Sydney, Australia.

When was Aurora Place built?

Aurora Place was built in 2000.

How tall is Aurora Place?

Aurora Place is about 218 m tall.

Aurora Place is a commercial and residential skyscraper on Phillip Street in Sydney, Australia. Designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, the 41-storey building is 218 metres tall to the top of its spire and 188 metres to the roof. It was built from 1998 to 2000 and holds offices and homes.

Its shape is unusual: not one panel is parallel to any grid line. The east face bulges slightly outward from its base and is widest at the top floors. This curved, twisted front is meant to answer the Sydney Opera House, which is about 800 metres away, and to suggest the sails and waters of the harbour.

Sails, tiles and gardens

The main wall is milky white laminated glass, a visual metaphor of a sail inspired by the tiles on the Opera House roof. Lower down, terracotta tiles bring in warm colour and tie the orange lobby to the homes. The glass wall extends past the main frame, so it seems to stand free. A steel spire 75 metres long is attached to the north side.

Unusually for an office tower, it has winter gardens at the north-west and south-east corners, with adjustable louvres facing the harbour and the Botanic Garden.

From plan to finished tower

The tower was built on the site of the former State Office Block by Bovis Lend Lease. The plan was first shown to the Central Sydney Planning Committee in 1996 by Mark Carroll, Shunji Ishida and Renzo Piano. The building was sold in January 2001 for 485 million Australian dollars.

Its materials were chosen to be different from its neighbours, Chifley Tower and Governor Phillip Tower.

Art and records

Aurora Place holds one of the most valuable collections of corporate art in Australia, with works by artists such as Kan Yasuda, Caio Fonseca and Tim Prentice. In 2002 it won the Property Council of Australia Rider Hunt Award.

On 2 June 2009 the French urban climber Alain Robert scaled it to protest climate change. Tenants include several law firms and the consulting company McKinsey.