In the ‘battle’ for Sydney’s brutalist Sirius building, public interest loses

2024-06-25T08:00:00-04:00

A decade ago the only way to secure a bed in Sydney’s brutalist icon, the Sirius building, was a proven need and time on the social housing waitlist. Now the price of admission starts at $1.55m – for a studio apartment. [...] Advocates who fought to save the building from the wrecking balls and from being sold see it now as the pinnacle of privatisation that failed the state’s most vulnerable.

The fate of Sydney’s martyred Rocks mirrors closely that of London’s Trelick and Balfron Towers, and the future of Singapore’s once caste-busting social housing system. As of our last reporting, the brutalist landmark has (finally, and forever) been saved from the wrecking ball — only to be turned over to private equity. The issue highlights what many see as the death of a progressive conception of planning, wherein accommodations for working-class people are placed in the center of cities and not the other way around.

"Sirius is the pointy end of the privatization of the city and entrenching 'ghettoes for the rich'," architect Philip Thalis puts it. "It’s bad for society if the best parts of the city are exclusively for people with the most means, particularly when allied to decreasing densities in those areas."

Meanwhile, the New South Wales state government just announced a "once in a generati...

The fight for Sydney's brutalist public housing landmark continues

2016-09-23T14:13:00-04:00

Protesters gathered in Sydney’s historic Rocks district on Saturday to rally against the New South Wales government’s plans to sell off the Sirius building – which contains 79 social housing tenants – to developers for more than $100m. The 1970s Brutalist building was nominated for heritage listing by the NSW National Trust in 2014 but the government has refused to grant it, saying the proceeds from the sale are needed to build more public housing elsewhere in Sydney

Quartz also reported that Australia’s largest construction union Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the Unions NSW have called their members to refuse any participation in demolition work of the structure.

“The Sirius building is not only an important piece of architectural history—it is one of the last areas of public housing in the district,” explained Rita Mallia, president of the CFMEU in a Sept 16 statement.

Learn more about the case in this change.org petition and on the cause's website saveoursirius.org.

Previously in the Archinect news: Just add balconies? Sydney deliberates future of brutalist housing landmark

Archinect - News

In the ‘battle’ for Sydney’s brutalist Sirius building, public interest loses

The fight for Sydney's brutalist public housing landmark continues