The Annex, 12 Creek Street

The Annex at 12 Creek Street is a twelve-storey tower, located at the threshold of Brisbane’s ‘Golden Triangle,’ by the fig grove, planted in 1889. The building is grounded in its sub-tropical and cultural context and is designed to meet contemporary workplace and public needs; whilst thoughtfully connecting with the site’s unique history. The vision for the tower was to design a building and plaza, that would spatially knit with the adjacent grove of fig trees. In 1889 Queen Victoria gifted to the people of Brisbane, a parcel of land at the intersection of Creek, Eagle and Elizabeth Streets. Walter Hill, the first superintendent of Brisbane’s Botanical Gardens, planted three fig trees here to provide a shady area for workers to rest amid the hectic activity of the wharf trading area. The Annex enhances this historical setting by delivering qualities and experiences, as if acting as a ‘fourth’ tree. Perforated and lit, a newly inserted canopy spreads towards the existing fig trees, capturing an outdoor room between the new plaza and the fig trees. Tiered outdoor seating is oriented towards Creek Street, echoing the former creek bank, a place of community engagement. Here in its new incarnation, the community can pause, engage, and play under the new abstract tree canopy. Sturdy and robust detailing at the tower’s base reinforces the language of the fig tree and its mangrove roots. The motif recessed into the concrete seats references the undulating nature of these roots in plan, allowing visitors to sit among and within a historical landscape, whilst connecting to the nature around them. The six storey ‘canopy facade’ is designed to breathe, with intermittent operable awning sashes, located between golden ‘balustrades’ and overhead fretwork. The canopy, offering dappled light and shade, undulating colours, and a view through to the garden beyond, echoes the feeling of a traditional Queensland verandah. Above the ‘canopy façade,’ is a stack of elevated landscapes. A six-level trellised vertical garden, an occupiable outdoor sky terrace and a carved lantern heralding the building from afar. Abstracted fig tree foliage motifs are used in the glazing and cladding, extending the experience of dappled light and shadow. Delicately latticed and profiled working platforms form subtropical dados, defining the ‘canopy façade,’ and trellised elevation volumes. Their shape creates a distinctive silhouette against the sky, referencing the highly ornate cornices of historical Brisbane buildings. Through settings and experiences, The Annex celebrates our distinct subtropical riverside culture, history and vernacular.