2 Bligh Street Renovation / Bates Smart

Two major exterior renovations have changed the architectural expression of 2 Bligh Street since the building was completed in 1958. Its most recent, by Bates Smart in 2018, returns the building to its original modernist elegance while exemplifying contemporary sustainability principles. Architects Stephenson and Turner designed 2 Bligh Street—originally named Temple House—in the International Style. The building’s finely proportioned, expressed structural grid was accentuated by recessed infill glazing and blue tiled masonry spandrel panels. Heavy, angular aluminium spandrels were added in the 1980s as structural rectifications and as aesthetic updates, responding to changed preferences for a more solid expression. These modifications, as well as the natural evolution of Sydney’s architecture, put 2 Bligh Street at odds with its surroundings, composed of taller premium office buildings with strong modern pedigrees.