Atlassian Headquarters

SHoP’s design for Atlassian Headquarters is a commitment to next-generation innovation in wellness and placemaking, sustainability and technology, performance and people—above all people—to solve for the most pressing challenges of our times. In the challenge and responsibility of creating a definitive new icon for the Sydney skyline and a new global headquarters for Atlassian, New York-based SHoP Architects recognized and honored the imperative of also creating a bold new model for other international cities. To design for today is to meet the future with great optimism and humanism and vision. The tower is designed to be a thrilling and thoughtful beacon of technology on many scales: to reflect Atlassian’s core values around sustainability and workplace culture, to establish a flagship project and identity for the new Central Tech Precinct, and to honor Sydney’s tradition of great human-centered and ecologically responsible public spaces. Atlassian Headquarters will be the tallest commercial hybrid timber tower in the world and is at the leading edge in its application of carbon sequestering mass timber construction. Extending the district’s newly activated 24/7 community identity and life on the ground into the sky, the building carries gardens upwards as far as its green roof. The tower is composed of eight major divisions, each containing a distinct four-level “habitat” rendered in mass timber and lightly wrapped in glass and steel. This composition puts the most natural and supportive materiality in direct contact with the people who will use the building—and creates a naturally ventilated zone, akin to an outdoor garden, at each level. The design also provides a platform for innovative and effective environmental performance, and it presents, when seen from afar, a complex but unified vision representing the aspirations of the new precinct. Open garden spaces are the key to the tower’s exceptional environmental innovation and diminished ecological footprint. Taking advantage of Sydney’s temperate climate, the operable facades allow large areas of each floor to function without mechanical cooling and air handling. Together with the novel use of mass timber, the advanced facade enables the project to reduce carbon emissions over a ten-year period. To most fully support the demonstrated ethos of Atlassian, the office spaces reflect the networked and distributed realities of contemporary life in the workplace, encourage and allow maximum adaptability of spaces and programs, and bring nature directly into the everyday experience of each staffer. Mass timber is both one of the most hopeful technologies in moving our cities toward real solutions to the global climate crisis and noted for how directly it promotes relaxation through its warm, familiar tactility. The use of mass timber and the integration of landscape and natural ventilation deliver the joy and beauty of this connection with the natural world—and the vitality and inspiration of the city.