Design and Construction
Q1 Tower was designed by Atelier SDG, and its form was inspired by the Sydney 2000 Olympic torch and the Sydney Opera House. The name was given in honour of members of Australia’s Olympic sculling team of the 1920s – Q1.
The design of the podium, retail ground plane, entry foyer and canopy was by Innovarchi (directors Ken McBryde and Stephanie Smith). The concept was based on studies of wind, movement and tension in which a series of ribbons wrap concentrically around the tower form and hover above the entry plaza area providing cover and shading. The tension in the movement and free form are expressed by the gradual twisting of the aluminium-clad ribbons as they move around the building. The result is an open-air galleria-like shopping precinct under the glazed ribbon structure and a curved retail facade to the street edges.
The project was developed by The Sunland Group and built by Sunland Constructions. The building was the Silver Award winner of the 2005 Emporis Skyscraper Award, coming in second to Turning Torso in Sweden.
The building is supported by 26 piles, each two metres in diameter, that extend 40 metres into the ground passing through up to four metres of solid rock. Q1 contains one, two and three bedroom apartments. Building facilities include two lagoon swimming pools, a lap pool, gymnasium, small theatre, a ballroom and a spa centre.
An application to construct a walkway around the outside of level 78 was lodged with the Gold Coast City Council in mid 2010.
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“Delay always breeds danger; and to protract a great design is often to ruin it.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)
“There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active cooperation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying.”
—John Dewey (1859–1952)