Home Orbis Apartment Melbourne, VIC Architect: ARM (Ashton Raggatt McDougall) Builder: LU Simon Product: ShapeShell™-RT Area: – Application: Building Facade Responsibility: Design, Engineer & Manufacture of Feature Elements Details This funky project turns the traditional building façade on its head and, in doing so, creates a unique series of manufacturing and construction challenges. Working with both negative and positive space, the façade projects into and out from the building structure – requiring both light weight and enormous strength. The result is an extraordinarily dramatic “deconstructed” face presented to neighbourhood.

Home Swanston Square Apartment Tower Melbourne, VIC Architect: ARM Architecture Builder: Probuild Product: ShapeShell™-RT Area: 5,500 m² Application: Facade Feature Responsibility: Design, Engineer & Manufacture of Feature Elements Details William Barak, was the last traditional ngurungaeta of the Wurundjeri-willam clan, first inhabitants of present-day Melbourne, Australia. ARM Architecture wanted to produce a façade of Barak’s portrait in recognition of the history and presence of Aboriginal nations on the land where Melbourne now stands. ARM reduced a photo to a binary black-and-white image. It then turned the image into horizontal bands of black and white varying in vertical thickness. This was transformed into 3D CAD. No less than 411 double curved unique panels were manufactured to create the 3D portrait of Aboriginal elder William Barak as he gazes down one of the main streets of the city of Melbourne, Australia. Installed over over 35 floors, no two panel is the same, thus adding to the creativity and complexity of the project. The ShapeShell freeform “monocoque” panels needed to have depth (thickness), be solid in construction (no hollow drum sound) yet lightweight and structurally stiff to allow minimal fixing only at slab edge. The monocoque panels use structural skins to carry the load across all sides of the panel. The panels were independently tested and taken up to a load of 6.4 Kpa without any signs of damage (cosmetic or structural) nor residual deformation. The strength of the panels allowed slab edge fixing despite a considerable vertical cantilever (up to 2.5 metres).

Home Queens Domain Melbourne, VIC Architect: DKO Architecture Builder: Hacer Product: ShapeShell™-RT Area: 6,400 m² Application: Balustrade & Canopy Responsibility: Design, Engineer & Manufacture of Feature Elements Details Queens Domain is a 20-storey apartment building in Melbourne. The build incorporated a ShapeShell™-RT balustrading system that swept around the entire perimeter of the building on each level and also some columns wrap and soffit units on the lower levels. ShapeShift technologies completed the design, engineering, project management, and manufacture of the elements. Across from Albert Park Lake and along the busy Queens Road in Melbourne, Australia, Queens Domain stands wrapped with a unique white balustrade creating a futuristic look. ShapeShell-RT was chosen for this structure primarily due to the mass-savings and installation benefits it was able to present. As ShapeShift tech was engaged at an early stage, it allowed for collaboration with the structural engineers of the building and allowed the engineering to account for a light-weight slab edge treatment. In doing so, the initial slab thicknesses was reduced so much so that over the 20-storeys of the building, the building was able to house a whole additional level to remain in the height restrictions. So essentially the penthouse suite paid for the entire balustrading system. The product was also able to present significant installation benefits. Given the light-weight nature, the balustrade units were installed from the slab edge through use of a simple 500kg winch system. This saved on time and cost.

Home Royal Randwick Racecourse Randwick, NSW Architect: Fitzpatrick+Partners Builder: AW Edwards Product: ShapeShell™-RT Area: 5,500 plate disc Application: Facade Feature​ Responsibility: Design, Engineer & Manufacture of Feature Elements Details This facade features 5,500 ShapeShell™-RT (Glassfibre Reinforced Thermoset) discs arranged in a pattern across the building, creating a stunning effect of a sea of ‘Coins’ overlooking the track at Randwick Racecourse. Originally specified in concrete, the client faced a dilemma of how to support such a weight from the car park’s structure. ShapeShift’s advanced ShapeShell™-RT material made the project possible. It weighs less than half of a concrete equivalent while delivering a superior and consistent finish. This project also showcases ShapeShift’s design and project management expertise, with ShapeShift delivering not only the façade panels but also the structural steel sub-frame, all preassembled off-site.

Home Marina Concourse Goldcoast, QLD​ Architect: The Buchan Group Builder: Sunland Group Product: ShapeShell™-RT Surface Area: 7,000 m² Application: Facade Feature​ Responsibility: Design, Engineer & Manufacture of Feature Elements Details The meticulous landscape design of Marina Concourse, frames the marina and views to the Nerang River, Gold Coast Hinterland and Surfers Paradise skyline. Inspired by the beauty of classic architecture designed by architect The Buchan Group for Sunland Group, the tapered tower columns were manufactured using 7,000 m2 of ShapeShell-RT (Reinforced Thermoset). These emulated the intent of large concrete columns, however applying the light-weight and innovative ShapeShell-RT material, offered great advantages for installation and performance for years to come.