Golden Gate Property has lodged an application with the City of Gold Coast for a $200 million AUD, 44-storey tower along the pristine beaches of Surfers Paradise. Designed by Rothelowman as a tribute to the quintessential Gold Coast lifestyle, 2 Wharf Road implements a meandering exoskeleton that employs modern advances in parametric design tools, wind engineering, and modelling technology, that is said to be one of the first times it has been applied to a residential building anywhere in the world.

The sinuous design of 2 Wharf Road, image via Rothelowman

The tower will help fill a gap in the premium apartment market with 35 full-floor luxury sky residences, a two-storey sub-penthouse, a three-storey penthouse, a 450-square-metre standalone beach house, and an exclusive wellness facility and spa. Residents would also have full access to a multifunction space, several pools, and a deck with barbecue facilities. Retailers would animate the streetscape and public realm surrounding the development.

Another rendering puts the proposal in a broader context, image via Rothelowman

Rising to a height of 154 metres, but only 12 metres wide, the development would boast a slenderness ratio of 1:13. That would put the project on roughly the same scale as super-thin skyscrapers in New York City like One Madison Park and 432 Park Avenue. Open balconies and varying floor plates will direct wind flow around the building, helping reduce wind impacts for residents and pedestrians.

The ground-level expression of the tower, image via Rothelowman

The 322.5-metre Q1 is currently the tallest building in the Gold Coast and Australia. The city's beachfront corridors are lined with hotel and residential skyscrapers, which are often architecturally articulated by weaving balconies and outdoor amenity spaces. 

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