Riparian Plaza Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Riparian Plaza

General information
Status	Complete
Type	Mixed-use
Location	71 Eagle Street, Brisbane, Queensland
Coordinates	27°28′05″S 153°01′48″E / 27.468136°S 153.030072°E / -27.468136; 153.030072
Construction started	2002
Completed	2005
Opening	2005
Height
Antenna spire	250 m (820 ft)
Roof	200 m (660 ft)
Top floor	188 m (617 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	53
Floor area	55,000 m² (590,000 sq ft)
Lifts/elevators	13
Design and construction
Architect	Harry Seidler
Developer	Bloomberg
Structural engineer	Robert Bird Group
Main contractor	Multiplex

Riparian Plaza is a very tall building, called a skyscraper, located in the heart of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It has 53 floors! This amazing building stands about 250 m (820 ft) tall to the top of its spire and 200 m (660 ft) to its roof. For a while, it was the tallest building in Brisbane until another one, Aurora, was built in 2006. Riparian Plaza is a famous part of the Brisbane skyline.

This building is used for many different things. It has 11 levels for parking cars, 25 levels for offices, and 12 levels with fancy apartments, including some special penthouse homes.

At the very top of the tower, there's a 50 m (160 ft) tall communications spire. On the 39th floor, you'll find a fun recreation center with a swimming pool. This area is located between the office floors and the apartments. The car park has a cool spiral ramp, called a helical annexe, to get in and out. Outside the building, there's an open public space and a walkway along the river, covering about 3,500 m² (38,000 sq ft). On the upper level of this public space, there's an Asian Fusion restaurant called Madame Wu.

The company Bloomberg Incorporation Limited built Riparian Plaza. It was built on the last empty spot right by the water in the Brisbane CBD. When it was finished, Riparian Plaza offered the first new, top-quality office spaces in Brisbane in ten years! The whole building has a total floor area of about 55,000 m² (590,000 sq ft).

Building Riparian Plaza
Things That Happened
Who Uses the Building?
In Movies
Gallery
See also

Building Riparian Plaza

Riparian Plaza was designed by a famous architect named Harry Seidler and the Robert Bird Group who were the structural engineers. Many of the offices in the building have great views of the river. This is because the building is angled at 45 degrees towards the river, and the office floors don't have columns in the middle, which gives a clearer view.

Each of the special penthouse apartments has its own curved balcony that sticks out, facing the river. These balconies have a very unique and artistic shape. Harry Seidler said that stacking the different parts of the building (parking, offices, apartments) on top of each other like this was special in Australia.

The shape of the tower has been carefully formed to maximise the outlook for occupants up and down the river. The base sector houses parking, the mid segment is column-free offices and the reshaped top consists of the greatest apartments we have ever designed.

—Harry Seidler

The building took longer to finish than planned. It was supposed to be ready by early 2004, but it wasn't completed until November 2005.

In 2007, Riparian Plaza won a big award for its design at the national architecture awards. The next year, in 2008, it won another important award for being a great mixed-use building (meaning it has offices, homes, and other spaces).

Things That Happened

In 2005, during a big storm, two window washers got stuck on the 30th floor of the building. Luckily, rescue workers were able to save them by removing a pane of glass to reach them.

Another time, on August 27, 2009, a large piece of glass from the pool fence on the 39th floor fell onto Eagle Street. It made a big mess, but thankfully, no one was hurt.

Who Uses the Building?

Many different businesses have offices in Riparian Plaza. Some of them include Wilson HTM, a broker, and law firms like Clayton Utz and Littles Lawyers. The Brisbane office of KPMG, a big accounting firm, is located on levels 14 to 19.

The apartments in Riparian Plaza are very popular. The building originally had 52 apartments, but now it has only 47. This is because people who own the apartments have been allowed to combine smaller apartments into bigger, more exclusive ones. This makes the apartments even more special and valuable.