25 King by Bates Smart

Built on the land of the Yugara and Turrbal people

Bowen Hills, Queensland

Jury citation Bates Smart’s 25 King in Brisbane sets a new benchmark as the tallest engineered timber building in Australia. Globally, there is presently no taller commercial timber building with a larger floor plate. Glulam and cross-laminated timber (CLT) form an all-timber structural system that significantly reduces the building’s embodied carbon compared with conventional construction methods using concrete and steel. The carefully detailed expressed timber structure is the hero of the interior, encouraging a light touch for subsequent fitouts. Working within the limitations of CLT, an efficient six-by-eight-metre structural grid with a side core delivers large, unencumbered floor plates for maximum workplace flexibility. 25 King is valuable, particularly as a potential catalyst for positive change in the construction of mid-scale commercial buildings.

Architect Bates Smart; Project team Philip Vivian (director), Basil Richardson (studio director), Jana Somasundaram, Tommy Sutanto, Amelia Donald (associate directors),

Tania Gordon (project leader), Andrew Willes (architect), Alana Lee (graduate), John Culshaw, Annika van Leeuwen (architectural assistants); Builder Lendlease; Mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, structural (steel and concrete), acoustic and fire engineer, and ESD consultant Aurecon; Structural engineer (timber) Design Make; PCA/BCA consultant McKenzie Group Consulting; Facade contractor G. James; Traffic engineer TTM Consulting