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himmelzimmer is an architectural design practice in Melbourne dedicated to investigating
an architecture that evolves from a continuous dialogue of imaginative and practical thinking.

As a studio we need to be able to define what building/design we aspire to the most:
For us this is ‘a room in the sky’, a ‘himmelzimmer’.

From its open window we can see the endless sky encouraging us that our ideas should be
dream-like without boundaries. With its window closed we can focus on the work on our desk
in front of us, the technical delivery of our ideas.

All our designs evolve from the dialogue of these two perspectives which are both essential
in the delivery of well-executed buildings that inspire and transcend the ordinary.

Our work is at its most successful where our window to the world is in a constant state of
in-between, where it is simultaneously closed and open.

We started in 2003 as studio505.
Following studio505’s closure in 2016 we are continuing our work as himmelzimmer

himmelzimmer is an architectural design practice in Melbourne dedicated to investigating
an architecture that evolves from a continuous dialogue of imaginative and practical thinking.

As a studio we need to be able to define what building/design we aspire to the most:
For us this is ‘a room in the sky’, a ‘himmelzimmer’.

All our designs evolve from the dialogue of these two perspectives which are both essential
in the delivery of well-executed buildings that inspire and transcend the ordinary.

Our work is at its most successful where our window to the world is in a constant state of
in-between, where it is simultaneously closed and open.

We started in 2003 as studio505.
Following studio505’s closure in 2016 we are continuing our work as himmelzimmer

lotus

wujin, china

nanyang primary school

singapore

ng teng fong + jurong

singapore

the strand facade

melbourne, australia

155 queen st mall

brisbane, australia

155 queen st mall

brisbane, australia

façade architect

studio505

client

ISPT

base building architect

John Wardle Architects

façade engineer

Tensys

The proposed upper podium façade to 155 Queen St has been conceived as a stand-alone design aimed at providing a distinct and individual urban character to a new dynamic development. The materiality and geometry employed will endow the new façade with a subtle relationship to the adjacent Wintergarden whilst remaining a clearly unique and individual addition to the streetscape.

Respect and sensitivity towards the adjacent Grand Regent heritage building façade was been in the forefront of the design and disposition of the new art screen. The art screen is at its most open and transparent at this northern end. The supporting structure has a feathered edge to avoid a vertical return and the cladding has been folded open to allow light and oblique views through the art screen to the adjacent Grand Regent heritage building façade.

The key aesthetic explored in the new art screen is the metamorphosis from the geometric to the organic. This metamorphosis describes a transition between the underlying rigor and simplicity of the pentagon grid and panels on the southern side to the progressively more organic butterfly shaped panels to the north.

The double pentagon’ or ‘bow-tie’ art screen façade panels are articulated to the south as a series of rigid geometric pentagons which gradually fold open until they are fully opened to an almost perpendicular position to the building’s façade. From this position they morph in a way similar to the referenced Escher drawings into more organic butterfly-like forms.

This motion and transformation progresses from closed at the T+G building to open from the right hand side to left when viewed from the Queen Street Mall.