(now called Edmund Barton Building)

Design/Completion 1970-1974

Canberra, ACT

Department of Trade

50,000 m 2

Precast, prestressed concrete structure – facade

Built along one side of Canberra’s “Parliamentary triangle”, this complex of government offices is designed to house separate but related Federal Trade departments with a working population of 3000 people.

The different departments required separate entry-identities and easy communication between their offices. The requirement for universally flexible office space resulted in a system of 16 m wide connected 5 storey wings joined by circular vertical access cores, creating two open courtyards between them.

Uses not readily accommodated in the column-free office wings are housed in separate free-standing buildings placed in the landscaped courtyards (theatre, cafeteria, etc).