Walking into BLUE Sydney is like walking inside the latest edition of Wallpaper* Magazine. Cool, urban; yet cosy and homely; its boutique chic offers a laid back designer lifestyle straight from the streets of New York but equally home in Sydney.
100 years after it's construction began as a wool and cargo handling facility, The Wharf Woolloomooloo has awoken as one of Sydney's most sought-after addresses, combining the hotel with a marina, restaurant and apartment complex.
Interior Design Company, Chhada Siembieda Australia in conjunction with the Design Team, was responsible for the fit out, ensuring the energy and creative integrity of the brand remains while utilising local talent and local influences.
The Living Room replaces the traditional concept of "reception", set against a new red glass wall and exposed corrugated iron and timber for the original frame of the building. Floor to ceiling windows boast a harbour view best enjoyed from an arrangement of lounges. Spherical carpets have been specially designed to draw in the space and create a cosy feel. An irresistible lure, making witty reference to the buildings pastoral beginnings, is the sumptuous sheepskin armchair.
Set in the heart of the hotel is WaterBar - the funkiest venue in the most eclectic satellite suburb of the CBD. WaterBar occupies the central atrium which once served as a roadway. It now links the interior transition space between the hotel and the restaurants on the Wharf. WaterBar was designed with a simple plan using linear shapes and using lighting with a domestic feel to focus on the space and draw people together for interaction. The WaterBar underwent a major refurbishment in 2007 by Interior Designer Kate Young.
Long stainless steel benches are placed asymmetrically about the atrium; Giant ottomans and cushions lure patrons to sit back and relax while they enjoy sipping on cocktails and snacking on fabulous bar food. At night the atmosphere is given a groovy edge with glowing lights projected onto the impressive Swarovski Crystal curtain suspended above the bar.
Sleeping is serious business at BLUE Sydney and the main focus of the 100 guest rooms gives the bed the respect it deserves. Plump goose down pillows and duvets has softened classical shapes; the sheets are the finest quality with 250-thread count.
The rooms colour palette consists of chocolate brown, which is a quiet, rich colour married with cobalt blue. The colours are plain and the textures are mohair and wool. Each room is unique as the architects have maintained the integrity of the original structure of the building. There has been a successful marriage between old and new with the classic new furnishings. Floor to ceiling windows create marvellous natural light complemented by soft tones of brown and cream. All rooms contain Iphone docking stations, DVD players, Wireless Internet access, extensive mini bars and in-room safes.
Spacious and minimalist, the bathrooms come in various configurations. Sleek, grey tiling meets glassy blue highlights, in reference to the watery location.
100 years after it's construction began as a wool and cargo handling facility, The Wharf Woolloomooloo has awoken as one of Sydney's most sought-after addresses, combining the hotel with a marina, restaurant and apartment complex.
Interior Design Company, Chhada Siembieda Australia in conjunction with the Design Team, was responsible for the fit out, ensuring the energy and creative integrity of the brand remains while utilising local talent and local influences.
The Living Room replaces the traditional concept of "reception", set against a new red glass wall and exposed corrugated iron and timber for the original frame of the building. Floor to ceiling windows boast a harbour view best enjoyed from an arrangement of lounges. Spherical carpets have been specially designed to draw in the space and create a cosy feel. An irresistible lure, making witty reference to the buildings pastoral beginnings, is the sumptuous sheepskin armchair.
Set in the heart of the hotel is WaterBar - the funkiest venue in the most eclectic satellite suburb of the CBD. WaterBar occupies the central atrium which once served as a roadway. It now links the interior transition space between the hotel and the restaurants on the Wharf. WaterBar was designed with a simple plan using linear shapes and using lighting with a domestic feel to focus on the space and draw people together for interaction. The WaterBar underwent a major refurbishment in 2007 by Interior Designer Kate Young.
Long stainless steel benches are placed asymmetrically about the atrium; Giant ottomans and cushions lure patrons to sit back and relax while they enjoy sipping on cocktails and snacking on fabulous bar food. At night the atmosphere is given a groovy edge with glowing lights projected onto the impressive Swarovski Crystal curtain suspended above the bar.
Sleeping is serious business at BLUE Sydney and the main focus of the 100 guest rooms gives the bed the respect it deserves. Plump goose down pillows and duvets has softened classical shapes; the sheets are the finest quality with 250-thread count.
The rooms colour palette consists of chocolate brown, which is a quiet, rich colour married with cobalt blue. The colours are plain and the textures are mohair and wool. Each room is unique as the architects have maintained the integrity of the original structure of the building. There has been a successful marriage between old and new with the classic new furnishings. Floor to ceiling windows create marvellous natural light complemented by soft tones of brown and cream. All rooms contain Iphone docking stations, DVD players, Wireless Internet access, extensive mini bars and in-room safes.
Spacious and minimalist, the bathrooms come in various configurations. Sleek, grey tiling meets glassy blue highlights, in reference to the watery location.
A biography of The Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf, Cowper Wharf Roadway:
Background:
- The Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf was constructed in 1910 during a period of expanding wool, wheat and import trading which lasted from late last century through to the 1930s depression.
- Changes in the nature of international shipping after the Second World War rendered this once state-of-the-art facility increasingly redundant for cargo handling.
- In 1956, Shed No. 7 was modified to handle the growing passenger trade, however this too diminished with the completion of the Circular Quay Passenger Terminal.
- More recently the Wharf has been put to a variety of uses including the berthing of pleasure craft, the importation of motor vehicles, and as an overflow facility for cargo and naval ships.
- The use of the wharf as a port facility declined in the post-war period.
- The Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf was built by the Sydney Maritime Trust.
- In its original design the wharf consists of a 400m long by 70m wide jetty on 4,700 piles, upon which are four two-storey sheds. The sheds were interconnected by a covered central roadway along the length of the building and by an open area across.
- The wharf is basically constructed with hardwood timber.
- With the exception of minor modifications, the Finger Wharf remains in its original condition. These alterations include:
- Alteration of Shed No 7 to create a passenger terminal
- Concreting of the wharf apron and
- Removal of all cranes and some gantries.
- The Sheds are of a hardwood post-and-beam construction with 2 two-layered hardwood decks supported by steel trusses on the upper level
- The external infill consists of a combination of painted hardwood weatherboards, painted galvanised iron or fibro panels, multi-panelled glass windows and sliding hardwood doors
- The Finger Wharf's appearance is characterised by three very long and parallel-pitched roofs of the sheds, the immense space above the central covered roadway and by the external wall surfaces patterned by the repetitive lines of the structural grid
- The wharf is also characterised by the following items of plant that are still in tact and that are of historical significance:
- Eight pairs of goods conveyors - used to lift goods on the eastern side
- Two remaining loading platforms on the eastern side
- Ninety-six evenly spaced cast-iron bollards around the perimeter of the wharf - used for tying ships to the wharf
- Four electronic lifts (one per original shed) - used for lifting goods unable to be put onto conveyors; and
- Five gateposts and two fence-posts of ornate design in cast-iron.
Redevelopment - "The Wharf Development":
- The brief to the developers, a joint venture between Multiplex Constructions and Walker Corporation, was to generally preserve the overall profile and superstructure of the historic wharf and restore some heritage elements or replicate others.
- The refurbished wharf would contain 312 apartments, a 100-room hotel, retail and restaurant space and car parking.
- Reusing the existing 12m apron, a marina and public concourse will skirt the circumference of the jetty/building.
- A deck jutting into the harbour at the northern tip will contain 12 new luxury apartments.
- The soundness of the timber piles, and the timber, steel and concrete frame wharf, left abandoned for years was largely an "unknown".
- To achieve five levels of apartments, the greatest feat was "lifting the lid", and lowering the level of the original floor by 1.1m.
- Other interesting engineering elements include using harbour water cooling for the air-conditioning plant and building a second level central concrete concourse
- Following inspection, most of the turpentine piles were removed and replaced with driven steel piles into silt or bedrock and encased in a plastic sleeve to the waterline.
- Only levels 3 and 5 had windows and colonial bar glazed windows have been replicated. Levels 2 and 4 were loading bays for ships.
- Other elements of the building have been earmarked by heritage architects, Clive Lucas Stapleton, for restoration or replication. The northern façade of the building onto the harbour has been faithfully reproduced from old photos and drawings galvanised iron sheeting, cedar- framed windows and traditional paintwork.
- The bookend entrances at the southern or street end of the wharf are difficult to restore. One end must be rebuilt exactly to the original, which involves underpinning the rotting superstructure to the existing floor levels and renewing all of the timber piles and whalers.
- All four timber conveyors or wool balers will be restored as interior design features of the huge central concourse space, which will also contain 8 lifts and 12 new pressurised stairwells and at the apartment end, give access to the carpark underneath.
- Three of the old external gantries will be reinstated on the apron.
- At the hotel end, the new second floor concrete concourse, which contains all the building services, will separate two levels of restaurant and retail space which open out on the wharf apron.
- Natural light and ventilation is induced through the entrances and the 20 lanterns in the centre roof, which will be restored.
- The roofs will be restored with timber trusses graded for capacity and where required stiffened steel plates.
- The waterfront area will have a 6m wide timber deck and 6m wide paved areas.
