In the latest IndesignLive feature, Bates Smart Director Guy Lake explains how the Ace Hotel integrates a modern glazed tower with Tyne House, the Federation warehouse below whose Chicago-style details became a driving influence behind the honest expression of the hotel’s structure and room configuration.

Originally constructed as a brick factory in 1915 for W.H. Soul Pattinson & Co. Ltd, Tyne House is a ten-storey Federation warehouse that references the early skyscrapers of the 1860s. With its steel frame, masonry cladding and early use of concrete, the structure was the first high-rise contribution to the warehouse precinct of Wentworth Avenue.

Maintaining the largely intact original glazed and brick façade was an integral design element because of its historical significance. The internal structure was fully reconstructed, restoring the mouldings, cornices and metal work to their original condition, as well as integrating an addition to house the hotel.

A sympathetically integrated glass-and-steel-framed tower celebrates the city’s historic grit and draws on the Tyne building beneath, while its terracotta-clad frame references the masonry character of the surrounding context and offers a modern interpretation of the warehouse vernacular.

Read more on IndesignLive.