2 & 4 National Circuit

Adaptive Reuse, Architecture, Interior Design, Urban Design

Commercial

Canberra

Photographer: John Gollings

The brief from ISPT for the 2+4 National Circuit project was to create buildings to house key federal government agencies with flexible and engaging internal spaces in a well-performing envelope, which would not only sit well in their neighbourhood but would actively enhance the experience of being there.

Location

Canberra, Australia

Client

ISPT

Cost

$140 million

GFA

66,748 sqm

Completion

2013

Traditional Custodians

Ngunnawal and Ngambri people

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Awards:

Australian Institute of Landscape Architects ACT Awards, Civic Landscape Award Australian Institute of Landscape, 2016
Australian Property Institute ACT Excellence in Property Awards, Commonwealth Bank Property Development Award, 2015
Australian Institute of Architects ACT Awards, Canberra Medallion Award, 2013
Australian Institute of Architects ACT Awards, Sir John Overall Award for Urban Design, 2013

The result is a grouping of two linked buildings which face and connect both National Circuit and Macquarie Street. These buildings exhibit large floorplates within which atria generate and encourage opportunities for communal activity and spatial integration.

The creation of a major pedestrian plaza between National Circuit and Macquarie Street forms a precinctual linkage and draws people through the site and into 4NC through an entry courtyard.

Photographer: John Gollings

The public permeability of 4NC encourages linkage from here to other parts of the site and into the building entries. Activating that courtyard will be cafe and retail uses.

Photographer: John Gollings

A childcare centre on the ground floor draws a broader population into the precinct and heightens the sense of the buildings being a part of their neighbourhood. A business centre, also on the ground floor, creates further interactivity between the internal spaces of the building and the bounding public domain.