Architecture studio BVN has retrofitted the 1970s brutalist Sirius building in Sydney, Australia, and extended it with a series of copper-clad pods.
The studio renovated the distinctive, brutalist housing project located near Sydney Harbour, which was designed  in 1979 by Dutch architect Tao Gofers.
Sydney's brutalist Sirius Building has been renovated
BVN a competition to redesign the building in 2019 following a campaign to save it from demolition. The renovated building contains 75 modern apartments, along with wellness facilities and street-level retails.
The original facade was retained and restored with a new extension distinguished from the original concrete exterior with copper cladding that nods to its modular design.
Copper-clad pods were added to the top of the building "Copper cladding distinguishes the additions from the existing building, offering legibility of Sirius' original Brutalist expression, its history and evolution," said BVN principal Phillip Rossington.
"The copper will age favourably over time, harmonising with the building's rugged, signature concrete," he added.
Street-level retails open up the building to the surrounding neighbourhood
The redevelopment aims to prioritise the building's connections to the surrounding neighbourhood.
Barriers were removed between the site and The Rocks district where it resides. At street level, shops and a through-site pedestrian path decorated with historic artefacts were added.
A communal...