MARTIN PLACE METRO PRECINCT IN SYDNEY – AN URBAN TRANSFORMATION : A review of the Martin Place Metro Station and Precinct in urban design perspective with an Afterword by Tim Williams

Published: March 29, 2025Categories: Architecture, Movement & TransportTags:

 

ABSTRACT

Sydney Metro’s Martin Place Station and its associated precinct development is seen by the author as an integrated whole and significant piece of urban design in the heart of Sydney’s financial district. This monumental scheme in transport and urban development transforms the heart of the city not only in metropolitan travel and access but in its built form, public space and pedestrian connectivity. There is a parallel transformation relating to the urban economy and life of the city. It does all this while protecting the valued historic built character of the place. This article includes an Afterword by Tim Williams.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Raeburn Chapman, founding Editor of Urban Design Review is an architect, city and regional planner and urban designer who has worked across academics, research, private practice and government internationally. In Australia he was responsible for introducing urban design as public policy into the transport sector of the New South Wales state government. Contact: editor@urbandesignreview.com

Afterword by Tim Williams, Head of Cities (Group), Grimshaw. Tel +61 (0)2 9253 0298

PREFACE

Martin Place Station is one of six new metro stations for the recently opened Sydney Metro M1 line, the City and Southwest leg of the new high-speed, driverless, passenger rail network.

The metropolitan-scale network with a planned 46 metro stations is aimed at reshaping travel geographically and modally and, with this, the form of the city. As the first investment of its kind in transport infrastructure by the New South Wales (NSW) State Government, involving a program of unprecedented scale, it is visionary.

Over and above the visionary role of government, is that of the private sector. Private sector innovation is at the heart of Martin Place metro station and precinct development, with Macquarie Group expanding its global headquarters in this prestigious location and creating a precinct identity. Macquarie has been both innovator and project proponent. This is arguably a model public-private partnership in integrated transport and urban development focusing on design quality. The employment of and collaboration with excellent architect-urban designers by Macquarie is notable.

This urban design review covers the underground Sydney Metro Martin Place station and pedestrian link, above ground pedestrian precinct and two mixed use tower developments over the metro station. It runs from south of Martin Place to Chifley Square. The precinct is Australia’s most developed example of Integrated Station Development (ISD), as highlighted in this article.

 PLANNING, DESIGN AND DELIVERY

The Sydney Metro Martin Place Station precinct was planned to include the new station and two new commercial buildings above each of the northern and southern entrances, the developments over the station. However, Martin Place Station and several others on the new line have an important distinction: they are not simply stations with development on top, but are Integrated Station Developments (ISD’s). It is the integration of the buildings above into the station’s actual design and engineering that produces the urban outcomes but also determines many other aspects of the station and precinct design including such technical aspects as the integration of services into the above-ground architecture. The structural and mechanical engineering is an important part of this integration.

Sydney Metro is the State’s delivery agency for planning and building the metro and overseeing the integrated metro station developments.

Following an unsolicited Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) development proposal Macquarie obtained approval from the NSW Minister for Planning to carry out the design, construction and operation of the Station Development at Martin Place. Under this proposal Macquarie delivered the metro station and the bank secured the air rights to develop above the station. Lendlease were appointed as the design and construction contractor. Macquarie developed the entire precinct, including 39 Martin Place at the south end.

Grimshaw were the lead architects for the entire redevelopment of Martin Place Station and the architects for the station’s full scope of works including the connection between the new metro and the old Martin Place train station.

Johnson Pilton Walker (JPW) were the architects for the north development over the metro station at 1 Elizabeth Street with its 39-storey tower, together with its connections to the adjacent heritage-bank at 50 Martin Place and the design for that building’s adaptive reuse.

Tzannes were the urban designers that established the development framework for the entire precinct including the built form controls, and were the architects for the south development with its 28-storey tower over the metro station at 39 Martin Place.

A brilliant design team.

CONTEXT OF MARTIN PLACE

The 437m long and 30m wide public space called Martin Place, with a 1:10 overall gradient, has undergone a number of functional and physical changes. Once an E-W street as part of the city’s street grid, it was transformed into Sydney’s major square in linear form. More recently, it became an events venue bringing greater activity into the public domain. The new metro station precinct is now a major urban transportation hub and destination within this.

Martin Place is spatially defined by the enclosing line of building facades on both sides (the exception being the Harry Seidler-designed modernist MLC building) and by the terminating vistas at Macquarie Street and George Street. Different streets and lanes lead off this pedestrian spine to connect places such as Pitt Street Mall and Angel Place. The two most important historical buildings are the 1 Martin Place colonnaded Sydney GPO by James Barnet completed in 1874 and the 50 Martin Place heritage-listed former Government Savings Bank of New South Wales completed in 1928 and refurbished by Macquarie in 2014.

ORGANISING PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN FOR THE PRECINCT – BUILT FORM, CIVIC SPACE AND USER EXPERIENCE

The metro station and its precinct together form a monumental three-dimensional urban composition designed by architect-urban designers. The following key principles are apparent:

 Heritage-listed bank at 50 Martin Place as architectural reference

This building is the centre-piece of the precinct and pivotal to its design. It influences the station development podium forms, heights and materials ensuring an architectural and historical continuity.

Podium datum height

The height of the heritage-bank establishes a common datum for the height of the station development podiums and consistent with surrounding streetscapes.

Axis and symmetry

A N-S central axis down the length of the precinct and through the heritage-bank governs the symmetrical organisation of station development buildings at podium and tower levels and sets the horizontal alignment of the metro station’s subterranean concourse. This clarity of design structure is a master stroke.

Metro station entrances

Whereas metro entrances worldwide are generally located on city sidewalks with identifying architectural and wayfinding features, the Sydney Metro entrances are integrated into developments over the station by way of porticos and lobbies. These buildings are gateways that welcome transit users into the metro station environment. This is done with great imagination for the Martin Place Station.

Pedestrian connectivity

The entire precinct is conceived as a pedestrian environment from ground plane down to station platforms. Laneway connections through the developments over the metro station make them permeable for pedestrians and enhance access to the metro station. Street frontages and lobbies are activated with shops and cafes and an awning, on Elizabeth Street.

Tower form and height

Towers have a modern architectural expression within the precinct context. They are set back from their podiums and vertically separated in sympathy with the heritage-bank building but are sheer on adjacent streets. Shape and height are dictated by considerations of skyline and views, solar access, wind impacts and relation to neighbouring tower buildings.

Beyond the precinct integration

The designs of developments over the metro station respond to surrounding civic spaces which effectively extends the metro precinct into the city.

Multimodal interface

This is a transport hub where metro station and the developments on top are integrated structurally and architecturally and designed for pedestrian access. There is a planned interface with buses, bicycles and service vehicles. Integrated into the project is an end-of-trip facility for over 1,000 bicycles accessed from street level.

Experience in space and time

Not unlike New York City’s Rockefeller Centre, a monumental city development, the precinct is experienced from different angles, locations and heights – on approach, entry, walking through and around it, working in it and relaxing in its (would-be) civic space. It is a dynamic design that enfolds in space and time.

Artwork integration

A precinct-wide Public Art Strategy for this project has been implemented. Artwork together with lighting stimulates the senses, helps our sense of whereabouts, adds to precinct identity and marks metro entrances.  It is a civic gift.

A nice little touch – detail

Our experience at the pedestrian scale is enriched by architectural detail such as the ‘classical’ fluting seen at 39 Martin Place.

URBAN DESIGN ANALYSIS

The following set of drawings by Tzannes form part of an in-depth urban design analysis for a precinct wide design that was commissioned separately, and adopted, by Macquarie as part of their development bid. Tzannes were engaged to undertake a Peer Review of the Martin Place Precinct Plan prior to carrying out this comprehensive urban design investigation and developing design guidelines for the precinct.

 

Figure 1. Responding to context: This triptych of drawings shows three sets of design relationship concerning the tower bases, the tower podiums and the tower forms of the precinct composition: First, the base of each tower building is shown as a response to the monumental stone base of 50 Martin Place. Second, the podium of each tower building is shown as a response to the ceramic top of 50 Martin Place. The drawing on the right shows how the towers relate to each other and their place in the city. (From: Tzannes Report – Urban Design and Architecture, Precinct Wide Design).

The urban design analysis addressed such critical issues as station entry points, above and below ground circulation, connectivity to the street grid, materials and built form controls.  Importantly, the Floor Space Ratio (FSR) was increased from a maximum of 12.5:1 on both the north and south sites to 18.5:1 on the north site and 22.5:1 on the south site allowing new building envelopes. Smaller setbacks were agreed to along with increased commercial floor space, reduced overshadowing and more site-specific architectural outcomes.

This work provided a different insight into the creation of an architecture that is not only responsive to its urban context but makes the best use of the opportunities from transport infrastructure investment. Essentially, the proposition put forward by Tzannes was that the public interest is served by optimising the use of the land to align higher density with the increased capacity of new passenger rail infrastructure. Importantly, the character of Martin Place has been re-established with new development that required changes to the existing controls set by Sydney City Council.

PRECINCT PLAN

The following plan shows the entirety of the Martin Place Metro Station Precinct in relation to its urban setting.

Figure 2. Ground floor plan: Plan for the precinct ground plane in the context of the surrounding built fabric with its civic spaces – a complete urban design conception. (Credits: Johnson Pilton Walker, Architects. Grimshaw, Authorising Organisation. Macquarie Group, Integrated Station Development Client.

The plan has five main design elements:

  1. The heritage-bank at 50 Martin Place – renovation and connections to the North Development over the metro station.
  2. The North Development itself over the Metro Station at 1 Elizabeth Street.
  3. The South Development over the Metro Station at 36 Martin Place.
  4. The precinct civic plaza at Martin Place.
  5. In addition, is the design of the Metro Station, its concourse and connections.

The built outcome, above the metro station, is shown in the photograph below.

Figure 3. Perpendicular aerial view of precinct: The precinct, down the centre of the image, runs N-S and is crossed by the E-W Martin Place axis terminating at Macquarie Street to the right. The shaped tower of 1 Elizabeth Street is at the top with Richard Johnson and Chifley Squares coming off it diagonally. The Rogers Stirk Harbour and Norman Foster towers run along Hunter Street to the east. The change in street grid at Hunter Street is apparent. In the middle of the precinct is the heritage bank, with its dome addition, at 50 Martin Place adjoining 1 Elizabeth Street. The top of the podium and tower of 39 Martin Place is to the south of Martin Place. (Credits: Photograph by Brett Boardman. Supplied by Macquarie).

RENOVATION OF AND ADDITION TO THE HERITAGE-BANK AT MARTIN PLACE – THE CENTRAL BUILT ELEMENT OF THE PRECINCT

50 Martin Place, the former Government Savings Bank of NSW designed by Ross and Rowe and completed in 1928 became the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) headquarters in 1984 and is now an extension of Macquarie’s new campus. It is a neo-classical Beaux Arts revivalist style building of State heritage significance.

In October 2015 the renovation for Macquarie Group led by JPW added a 2-storey steel canopy on top of the 10-storey bank building in the form of a transparent, steel-structure dome over the central banking hall. The dome draws on precedents like the Norman Foster-designed Reichstag building in Berlin. This new addition is a client and staff meeting space containing an informal auditorium and meeting, training and event spaces.

JPW with Tanner, Kibble, Denton Architects did the fine restoration design of the banking hall. The banking chamber was partially modified and restored as part of those works. It is an excellent example of the adaptive re-use of a major building.

Off the ground floor lobby, is the beautiful publicly-accessible Warrane exhibition, curated by the National Museum of Australia with Balarinji. The exhibition is centred on the idea of place, exploring the Gadigal custodianship of Country. (Warrane is the Gadigal word for Sydney Cove).

The design scope has included elevator access from the banking hall to the rooftop terrace and featuring works from the Macquarie art collection. New glass lifts provide direct access to client spaces on levels 10 and 11. The banking hall, in turn, is connected at ground level with 1 Elizabeth Street, and at multiple other levels with both buildings, forming Macquarie’s global headquarters.

DESIGN OF THE NORTH DEVELOPMENT OVER THE METRO STATION – THE NORTHERN ANCHOR OF THE PRECINCT

When I asked Matteo Salval, Director at JPW, about the design principles of the North Tower, he said: “It’s all about the precinct, not just the building.” By this he was referring to the integration of 1 Elizabeth Street with the metro station, an open, connected and engaging public domain, the celebration of heritage and a connective, accessible and also innovative workplace that make 1 Elizabeth Street exemplar.

This development over the station at 1 Elizabeth Street has a large urban footprint, massive podium and distinctive skyline profile. By sheer volume it is the most important part of the new precinct. There are two stand-out elements, the tower and the metro entrance integrated into the podium.

A comment on the podium

The podium height aligns with that of the heritage-bank. Its monumental appearance at pedestrian level (dictated by functional constraints) is tempered by pedestrian and service-vehicle entrances, elements of active street frontage, awning and architectural detail. The ingenuity of the design however lies in the relationship of podium and tower, design of the metro station entrance off Hunter Street, that of the tower itself and the response of the whole to its context.

The tower

Figure 4. Cross-sectional sketch of 1 Elizabeth Street: N-S cross-sectional design sketch showing intended relationships of form, space and connection of the metro, heritage-bank, southern development over the station, Martin Place and podium of the north tower over the station. Note the grand tower atrium,  L10 connection to the dome of the heritage-bank, setback of the tower from the bank, and the northern station entrance lobby with mezzanine. The built outcome is very similar to this conception. (Credit: Sketch by Johnson Pilton Walker).

Designed as a ‘next-generation workplace’ within the core of the city over the new metro station, the tower symbolises the future and marks Macquarie’s new global headquarters in its newly created precinct. Its form, which responds to the dome of the adjacent heritage-bank, has a symmetrical, orthogonal shape. The southern faceted, silver-glass, façade with a screen of vertical fins is shaped back in a cone-like fashion toward the tower’s apex within the building’s solar envelope. Like other modern buildings in the area, the tower contains a voluminous atrium. At L10 is a pedestrian connection with landscaped terraces to the dome of the heritage-bank. On the remaining sides the façade is a vertical plane moulding the tower into the architecture and surrounding streetscapes.

The Hunter Street response of tower and metro station entrance

Figure 5. Sketch of proposed precinct in its urban context: Axonometric sketch from N-W showing built form and spatial relationships of the precinct to the ensemble of towers along Hunter Street and to Chifley Square and Richard Johnson Square at the north end. The entire precinct including the north tower, Martin Place plaza and the south tower has a strong N-S axial, symmetrical, alignment of buildings and a corresponding axial alignment of the subterranean metro concourse. (Credit: Sketch by Johnson Pilton Walker).

The Hunter Street edge of the north development is critical to the form of the tower and design of the entire metro entrance:

  • The metro entrance comes off the N-W and S-W corners of the development over the metro station at different elevations. This picks up the strong pedestrian desire lines from the two civic spaces opposite, the semi-circular Chifley Square and triangular Richard Johnson Square. These are drawn into the public domain sphere of the precinct.
  • Importantly, the new metro line to Parramatta, Sydney West Metro, will come off Richard Johnson Square, with Hunter Street Station being its terminating point. It forms a critical transportational nexus here. The new tower planned for Richard Johnson Square is an integrated component but technically an entrance to this station. There will also be direct connections between Martin Place Station and the new Hunter Street Station as part of the Sydney Metro West project.
  • Hunter Street, with its 1:13 topography, is a connective element between the two civic spaces. Along it, the North Tower over the metro station generally aligns with the sheer facades of the towers that close the semi-circular form of Chifley Square. Together they form a composition of iconic towers along Hunter Street: The JPW-designed 1 Elizabeth Street, the Norman Foster-designed Deutsche Bank and the Rogers Stirk Harbour-designed QVB headquarters with their forecourts. The sheer towers along Hunter Street have ‘reverse’ podiums that continue the theme of the precinct in contemporary form. The towers mark a change in street pattern from the organic structure of the historic city to the grid of the modern city. This change influences the character of the area and marks the northern precinct.

Figure 6. Metro station from Hunter Street: Hunter Street entrances to Martin Place Station taken from Richard Johnson Square looking up Hunter Street and down Castlereagh Street. The Rogers Stirk Harbour tower on Hunter Street is on the left side of the photograph. The south tower at 39 Martin Place appears in the distance on the right over the traffic lights. (Credit: Photograph by Peter Bennetts. Courtesy of Grimshaw).

  • A portico under the tower serves as a transition space to the metro lobby and is formed to fit the gradient of Hunter Street and define the precinct street edge. The lobby with its central atrium is grand, beautiful and filled with light enabled by large windows and the transparent bank of tower lifts, an ingenious piece of engineering and architecture. While essentially serving the metro, the lobby is a complex multifunctional space containing office, retail as well as transport uses. The Macquarie reception floor is at mezzanine level together with an art gallery. An inspiring hanging sculpture of large scale, among other artworks, marks the metro entrance and brings an added civic quality. The portico incorporates artwork and landscape by Aspect Studio. (See: Notes).

Figure 7. Metro entrance lobby at Hunter Street: The entrance lobby at top of escalators from the concourse, revealing: The handsome light-filled lobby with hanging sculpture “Continuum” by Mikala Dwyer; stairs at the right of the photo descending from the N-E corner entry which is oriented to Chifley Square; the N-W corner entry on the left of the photo oriented to Richard Johnson Square; the interior landscape along the Hunter Street edge by ASPECT; and, the Hunter Street streetscape beyond seen through the large glazed facade. This displays a truly beautiful integration of architecture, art and engineering bringing the metro entrance into the building, and a great transparency of indoor and outdoor space. (Credit: Photograph by Peter Bennetts, Courtesy of Grimshaw).

  • As a design choice the lobby area outside of the metro core has a darkness highlighting the brightness of the metro lobby. The lobby connects down to the overlooked station concourse via lifts and escalators, with a reverse experience coming up to lobby level.

Other relationships

  • The lobby connects back to the heritage-bank at Macquarie’s 1 Elizabeth Street entrance with its own lobby space, which includes reinstatement of the Tom Bass fountain and Douglas Annand artworks from their previous city locations.
  • At this articulation point is a connection into the grand hall of the abutting heritage-bank and a stepped E-W laneway connecting Elizabeth and Castlereagh Streets.

Summation

All one design, the North Development over the Sydney Metro Martin Place Station is a creation that is of the city, of the precinct and of the metro.

DESIGN OF THE SOUTH DEVELOPMENT OVER THE METRO STATION – THE SOUTHERN ANCHOR OF THE PRECINCT

Alec Tzannes: “The importance of metro as public infrastructure should be legible in the built form at both street level and in the city skyline.”

This building, incorporating the metro station entrance and housing the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), is rooted in the historic built fabric of the city. It creates a new landmark with an imposing presence in the precinct having frontages on Martin Place and both side streets which also allows different entries to the metro from different levels.

Relationship with the heritage-bank and Martin Place

Architecturally, it is in dialogue with the heritage bank building opposite and together they form the central public space of the precinct or, ideally, an urban ‘room.’ While the bank is a chunky box form with a protective central door off the plaza the development over the station has an open, colonnaded frontage and, in conception, spatial continuity with the plaza.

The conception, developed in the urban design analysis and architectural concept development stages, is revealed in the drawings below.

The north façade of this building is a symmetrical design on the same N-S axis as the heritage-bank and that organises all developments in the precinct over the metro station.

Figure 8. South Tower – ground floor plane and form study: The sketch plan on the left shows the intended relationship of the South Tower podium at 39 Martin Place to an open plaza, and to the contrasting solid historic bank building at 50 Martin Place creating a solid northern edge to the plaza civic space. The sketch on the right translates this into an elevational concept for the base and podium of the South Tower, subsequently refined at the working drawing stage. (Credit: Analysis and drawings by Tzannes).

 

Figure 9. Intended form and character of Martin Place: This fine photomontage models the view down Martin Place: The precinct plaza is strongly defined by the podium of the new south building at 39 Martin Place and the historic bank at 50 Martin Place. The relationships of architectural form and elements as discussed in this article are apparent. The historic character of the place in this location is strongly reinstated. A clear open plaza is shown with selective trees at the façade edges. (Credit: Tzannes).

The podium

Its podium is a 9-storey tripartite composition having strongly framed base, middle and top sections. The podium height aligns with the overall height of the heritage-bank:

  • The base of the podium has a structural frame of double-story height that forms a colonnaded portal wrapping around the building. Great angular columns express the corners. They continue to the full height of the podium. Structurally, they transfer the weight of the tower and podium down to the metro station at subterranean level. From the plaza, the three-span colonnade forming a columnar grid creates a visually powerful façade. Three is a good number in architecture, as well as in music.
  • A metro lobby off Castlereagh Street (which has a commissioned mural separately installed) leads to the station concourse. A stepped E-W pedestrian lane through the building is articulated with the metro lobby space. There is a creative design response to the modernist Harry Seidler-designed MLC building across from Castlereagh Street; the portals of both buildings with different designs complement each other and together create a common public space dissected by the one-way street.

Figure 10. Martin Place station entrance: Southern entrance at 39 Martin Place located off Castlereagh Street showing quality of space, artwork and connectivity through to Elizabeth Street at a higher elevation. (Credits: Photo by Peter Bennetts. Courtesy of Grimshaw).

  • In the middle section, curved columns framing curved glass panels between, form a continuous wave. This design reflects, in modern terms, the Doric and Ionic columns of the heritage bank, and is a distinctive architectural feature of the building’s façade.
  • A double height component with architectural variation makes up the top section to podium height. The bottom of this component aligns with the cornice of the heritage-bank.

The tower

The tower is set back on the plaza side and vertically separated from the podium. Its contemporary façade is designed to reflect light in the public domain. Horizontal ribbons made of bronzed aluminium provide solar protection without obstructing views and create façade shadow lines.  This façade has beautifully curved wrap-around corners that continue all the way to the top of the building. It is flush with the solid clad elements that frame the tower. A structural spine down the rear of the building ‘clasps’ the tower and supports the solid walled and clad bottom and top plant rooms. Above the roof of the podium, a terrace structure is organized on L10 to create vertical separation from the podium.

Materials

While the base uses Balmoral (Finnish) red granite – fluted, louvred, curved and flat ceramic (terra cotta) tiles occur from L1 upwards. They make up the cladding to all solid elements of the podium and tower. This is consistent with the use of materials on the heritage-bank and fits in with the precinct.

Summation

The building with its podium and tower is a unified composition. It is, indeed, as distinctive in the city skyline as it is in defining Martin Place and, with its metro entries, makes up a significant urban design in its own right.

Figure 11. The built South Tower: View of completed south building at 39 Martin Place looking up toward Macquarie Street showing its full presence in Martin Place, impact on the skyline and streetscapes, and relationship to the modernist MLC building in the lower right side of the photograph. (Credits: Photograph by Ben Guthrie. Courtesy of Tzannes).

 The building with its podium and tower is a unified composition. It is, indeed, as distinctive in the city skyline as it is in defining Martin Place and, with its metro entries, makes up a significant urban design in its own right.

DESIGN OF THE PRECINCT’S CIVIC PLAZA AT MARTIN PLACE

Figure 12. Martin Place Plaza – a design disjuncture: On the left of this image, we see the interference of the large stepped seating platforms with the clear plaza onto which the podium of 39 Martin Place should have freely opened. The line of benches inserted in front of 50 Martin Place has no orientation to the plaza.  (Credit: Photo by Raeburn Chapman).

The design has the following characteristics:

  • Re-modelling the existing space: Along the heritage-bank side a line of benches is installed while down the opposite side in front of 39 Martin Place are large stepped platforms for casual seating.
  • Keeping clear linear spaces for pedestrian movement between these elements.
  • Resurfacing the ground plane.
  • Installing of new street furniture with a common design language.
  • Planting of London Plane trees conforming to the City of Sydney’s requirement for Martin Place trees.

Instead of creating an urban ‘room,’ the linear pedestrian corridor of Martin Place is reinforced with the plaza broken up into walking strips on either side of the badly positioned benches. The seating platforms along the frontage of 39 Martin Place not only disrupt the ground plane of the public space but obstructs the podium base from integrating seamlessly with it.

All of this ignores the civic design intention that we see in the Tzannes drawings in Figures 8 and 9, and on which the architectural design of 39 Martin Place is predicated, an unfortunate contradiction and, in this author’s mind, unforgivable.

There is certainly a breakdown in precinct design at this critical public space location. The precinct as a whole, consequently, lacks a true civic plaza integral to its design and part of its identity.

All design standards and materials for the Martin Place ‘plaza’ were specified by the City of Sydney. Grimshaw intervened to design custom bronze bollards, a significant uplift over the standard steel bollards seen elsewhere in Martin Place because they conform better to the heritage significance of 50 Martin Place.

DESIGN OF THE METRO STATION, ITS CONCOURSE AND CONNECTIONS– THE GREAT ENABLER

Here is the hidden jewel in the crown – the subterranean transport infrastructure. Architecturally beautiful in itself, it has enabled the creation of the precinct and its developments over the metro station. It very much follows the principles of design as practiced by the Station Design Office of the French National Railways whose aim is to build multi-modal interchanges as transport hubs that can be a catalyst for urban development and redevelopment, and to design the stations as an experience in movement – horizontal and vertical – from platform level to concourse to street that is integrated, transparent, seamless and has a sense of place and whereabouts. All of which the Martin Place metro station does.

The design of movement

The station platforms are some 25m below the ground plane. Passengers are moved up to street level via lifts and escalators and through different spaces and volumes including halls, atriums and passageways. Movement occurs from platform level (plan B5), to station level (plan B4), to station level with paid and unpaid concourse entries (plan B3), to lower concourse level (plan B2), to upper concourse level (plan B1), to lower ground level with N-W station entrance of Northern Development over the metro station and finally mezzanine and ground level.  The horizontal binding element of the metro station is the 65m long pedestrian concourse. To break up the long walk and add visual interest is a special lighting and sound installation in the tunnel leading from the base of the Martin Place escalators to the Hunter Street precinct at the northern end of the metro station.

Figure 13. The design of vertical movement: View from concourse level showing lifts and escalators going up to lobby at northern entrance to Martin Place station, with daylight emerging from the street level entrance above. This exhibits a strong architectural form and beauty. (Credits: Photo by Peter Bennetts. Courtesy of Grimshaw).

 

Figure 14: The precinct’s underground pedestrian tunnel link: Pedestrian, non-ticketed, concourse under 50 Martin Place providing direct pedestrian connection from 39 Martin Place entrances to Hunter Street entrances. This photograph shows the subterranean light and multi-media installation in operation with the station lighting in the background towards the Hunter Street entrances/exits. Sound, lights and motion sensors are concealed in high gloss reflective structures in the roof and to the sides of this passageway. Granite paving and granite benches provide seating for events and observation of the multi-media productions planned for here. The tunnel is called Muru Giligu, meaning Path of Light. (Credits: Photo by Peter Bennetts. Courtesy of Grimshaw).

 

Figure 15. Character of concourse below 50 Martin Place: Escalators from concourse level under 50 Martin Place leading to Martin Place exits above and through foyer between Elizabeth Street and Castlereagh Street above. Concourse retail shops surround this area. (Credits: Photo by Peter Bennetts. Courtesy of Grimshaw).

Materials and finishes

There is a continuous lining of the interiors with glass-reinforced concrete (GRC), moulded to the different shapes defining the station’s spaces. Engineering and architecture are well synchronized. All GRC lining is designed to emulate the tonality of Sydney sandstone. The GRC panels in the wall start to feature red-coloured grout between them as the panels approach corridor and escalator areas and lead to the old red ceramic tiled Martin Place railway station. The concourse flooring is in a light-coloured granite which also helps to define the lightness and spaciousness of the interiors.

Way-finding

It is important for transport infrastructure buildings such as railway stations and airports to have way-finding systems because of their size and complexity. In the case of Martin Place Metro station there are two way-finding systems. First is Grimshaw’s contribution of colour-coding the ceiling battens in different directions of walking. The second, too complex to describe here, was defined by Sydney Metro working in conjunction with Grimshaw’s sub-consultant Buro North who designed the way-finding systems for the rest of the metro stations.

Way-finding is a difficult design matter. It is always worthwhile monitoring way-finding over a period of time as metro patronage increases and new patterns of accessibility emerge.

Summation

The salient qualities that result from all this are: A wonderful feeling of calmness, architectural beauty, movement experience and surprise and, ultimately, connection to the city. It is worth being a commuter.

CONCLUSION

Within a line-wide conception focused on metropolitan planning and design – a truly metropolitan shaping exercise in transport and urban form – the new Sydney Metro creates distinctive station designs at each separate location giving each a place identity. This place identity is reinforced by the response to the specific context of the associated precinct developments.

The Martin Place Metro Station and Precinct development together form a major piece of city design made possible by the metro station itself, which I have described in this article as the great enabler, and which is an excellent architectural and urban design in its own right.

Figure 16. Oblique aerial of built precinct: This aerial shows the resultant urban built form of the entire precinct above the metro station running diagonally across the centre of the photograph. The shaped North Tower at 1 Elizabeth Street is at the top, back of the heritage bank at 50 Martin Place with its domed roof addition. At the bottom corner is the top of the ceramic clad South Tower at 39 Martin Place, separated from the heritage bank building by the re-designed plaza at Martin Place. Each of the towers responds to its respective surrounding context. (Credits: Photograph by Martin Siegner. Courtesy of Tzannes).

Sydney Metro’s Martin Place Station and its associated precinct development shapes the city in its structure and form, economic development, movement and access, and civic and visual quality. And it respects the historic built fabric in which it is embedded. Importantly, it shows up public-private partnership at its creative best and, in this case, the contribution to city making by Macquarie Group while serving its corporate ends,

AFTERWORD:  TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT, URBAN REGENERATION AND THE ROLE OF DESIGN

When Grimshaw won the prestigious 2024 Stirling Prize for London’s Elizabeth Line, I became sure of one thing:

That Martin Place Station would be the next Grimshaw project to win a major architectural award and for the same reason. That is, it is great, a classic even. This is not just because of its aesthetic, but because it exists for the city and its people and not just for its clients or even for its designers and their peers. This is, like the Elizabeth Line, civic architecture in the fullest sense, a reality in the re-discovery of our city centre in the wake of the pandemic and a genuinely city-shaping project.

In the case of Martin Place Station and its precinct, the impact on a CBD that has been seeking renewal and reactivation has been immediate and profound. As was intended, but achieved beyond expectations, the station is buzzing and the streets around it are filling with new life.

We hear a lot about TODs: this is transit-oriented development at the heart of a major city. Crucial to the new Sydney Metro network, Martin Place station is, as the client says, “a world class, fully integrated transport destination at the heart of the CBD.” Designed to be monumental but porous and knitted into the fabric of the city, its interconnected concourses and activated streetscapes, and the enlivened new retail, dining and cultural opportunities they bring, will regenerate this as a vital precinct of a global city. It’s kind of important.

Crucially, so attractive is the station and the new Sydney Metro in a car-loving city without, until this time, a public transport network fit for a global city, people have been using it by the millions.

Many have been getting out of their cars for the first time to have, also for the first time, a world class mass transit experience. Sydneysiders are proud of Martin Place and the Sydney Metro and they have already begun to have a transformative impact on the way people get around and experience their city with many seeing places in person they’d only ever seen on a map or passed by in a car without stopping.

Desire for more has been cultivated by this breakthrough. And that desire has been shaping not just the city’s people but our legislators too who have been inspired by the emergence of the Sydney Metro and the triumph of Martin Place and other key metro stations to go further down the path towards transit-oriented development with each new station designed as an opportunity to create exemplary, sustainable places with more urban densities and amenities, maximizing social and environmental benefit as the city grows.

That’s what a city-shaper does: it catalyses change in the way cities operate, people live and work and even how they think of the city. This is the real meaning and impact of Martin Place as the jewel in Sydney Metro’s crown, and why as Sydneysiders we are damned proud of it.

Tim Williams, Head of Cities (Group), Grimshaw

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The opinions expressed in this urban design review, and its conclusions, are solely those of the author.
This article has been reviewed for accuracy by Bradford Gorman, Head of Strategic Communications at Grimshaw, who has in turn coordinated reviews by JPW, Tzannes, Sydney Metro and Macquarie.
I wish to thank Bradford Gorman and Cristian Castillo (Principal) at Grimshaw, Matteo Salval (Director) from JPW and Alec Tzannes (Founding Director) at Tzannes Studio for their comments, cooperation in meetings and site visits, in supplying material and in hearing me out.
All credit to Tim Williams from Grimshaw for writing the Afterword in his indomitable style.
The photographer of the aerial photo in the Feature Image is by Martin Siegner, courtesy of Tzannes.

NOTES & REFERENCES

• I have deliberately incorporated hand drawings because they are the most immediate way a designer can impart principles and concepts and from which detailed drawings can be worked up. They are an important part of the design process. Hand drawings are juxtaposed with architectural drawings and photographs. Also, I have chosen to use long captions to give further explanation to such a monumental and complex urban design.

• While the entirety of Martin Place runs E-W from Macquarie Street down to George Street, I have referred to the particular space between 50 Martin Place and 39 Martin Place as a ‘plaza’, in other words, a design element defining the precinct.

• Macquarie Group Limited (Macquarie) is a global financial services group providing its clients with asset management, retail annd business banking, wealth management, leasing and d business banking, wealth management, leasing and asset financing, market access, commodity trading, renewables development, specialist advice and access to capital and principal investment. Founded in 1969, Macquarie employs over 20,000 people in 34 markets. At 30 September 2024, Macquarie had assets under management of $A916.8M.

• It is important to appreciate the contribution by Macquarie of the extensive end-of-trip bicycle facility. This serves the Macquarie headquarters components as well as the south development over the metro station at 39 Martin Place and positions Macquarie as a major provider in the city of active transport.

• The public art in 1 Elizabeth Street has been curated to create a “site of cultural engagement …. through the addition of new public art, the incorporation of First Nations design, and the reinstatement and reimagination of salvaged artworks. The art featured throughout 1 Elizabth Street tells the story of the site’s past, present and future. Works over and above those of Mikala Dwyer (Continuum is part of a series of works by Dwyer in both north and south metro entrance) include the Tom Bass Fountain, Douglas Annand ceramic wall mural and Four Continents, as well as new works commissioned by Macquarie including by Debra Beale, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, and Tina Havelock Stevens in the tunnel Muru Giligu. (See: https://1elizabeth,co,au/the-precinct/public-art.html).

• The Sydney Metro Martin Place integrated station development project with its complex maze of tunnels involved Arup as the engineering lead.

• The two main Tzannes urban design technical references are as follows:

1. Tzannes (October 2017): Design and Planning Context Review, Amended, Final, prepared for Macquarie Corporate Holdings Pty Ltd, 154 pages.

2. Tzannes (December 2017): State Significant Development Application (SSDA): Sydney Metro Martin Place Station Precinct SSDA Consolidated Design Guidelines, prepared for Macquarie Corporate Holdings Pty Ltd.

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