The Jervis Centre is one of the key anchors of the City’s Retail Core and the brief sought to strengthen the Centre’s role as a primary retail destination within the city centre.  The Jervis Centre occupies a substantial part of a city block and has a ground area of approximately 11400 m².  It is predominately an internalized building that extends to a dimension of 126 metres behind its principal entrance façade on Mary Street and yet, the scale and quality of the internal volume does not register in the external architectural expression.

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The objective was to create:

1. an additional floor of retail accommodation above the existing anchor unit and

2. a new architectural treatment to the entrance on Mary St.

 

In response to this the proposed new works comprises two elements:

 

• a striated glass-clad upper volume extension at roof level and

• a projecting clear Glass Cube above the new entrance

 

The new upper volumes have a glass structure as a second layer. The glass is floor to ceiling in height, varying widths – between 400 and 75mm with varying transparencies – a mix of clear, contrasting etched and opal glass strips, as well as being offset from one another.  The overall effect read against the inner skin of the envelope creates a depth to the visual quality of the elevation as well as texture or grain like a form of glass curtain.