Blending the past with the contemporary

Ace Hotel

Our architectural response champions the site’s rich history, offering the perfect backdrop for Ace Hotel’s inviting blend of the past with the contemporary.

1 / 2

The restoration of the historic Tyne House and 9-storey addition on Wentworth Avenue was the winner of a City of Sydney Design Excellence competition. Located in Surry Hills, the hotel emerges seamlessly from the site’s nine-storey ‘Federation style’ warehouse building. The Chicago style architecture of the warehouse was a driving influence behind the honest expression of the hotel’s structure and planning.

With the external brick façade retained, its internal structure was reconstructed along with a tower sympathetically integrated above it. The new glass-and-steel tower celebrates the city’s historic grit with an expressed frame that draws on the Tyne building beneath it. The tower’s frame clad in terracotta references the masonry character of the surrounding context and offers a modern interpretation of the existing façade.

Each frame is infilled with a projecting bay window and a recessed sliding sash set within metal frames. To the side boundary, the frame is infilled with copper panels with a standing seam that define a language consistent with the tower, while providing depth and resolution to the ‘party walls’.

Guy Lake

Director, Bates Smart

Featuring 257 guest rooms and suites over 17 levels, the roof level accommodates a bar and dining area with spectacular views and solar access designed by Fiona Lynch. The interior’s ground floor is a series of linked active spaces with a sophisticated lobby bar, restaurant and café designed by Flack Studio.

The hotel lobby is accessed off Wentworth Avenue, adjacent to which is a bar and restaurant with a separate street entry. A laneway with service access is activated by a café with oversize bifold doors and a vibrant public artwork by Australian artist Callum Morton. The illuminated piece which celebrates the beauty of the industrial is highly visible from multiple vantage points.

Details

Client

Golden Age Group

Collaborators

  • Time & Place
  • Hickory Group
  • Flack Studio
  • Amanda Sharrad
  • Callum Morton

Location

Sydney | Gadigal Country, Australia

Year

2022

Status

Completed

Area

10,170 sqm

Awards

  • City of Sydney Design Excellence Competition Winner, 2016
  • HICAP ANZ, Development of the Year Award, Winner, 2023

Photography

Tom Roe, Martin Mischkulnig, John Gollings