Case Studies – PwC Tower (Commercial Bay), Sky Lobby

The Sky Lobby on Level 7 of PwC Tower is a hotel style environment creating an extension of the occupants’ working space as well as being the ideal place to meet clients or colleagues, that then opens out onto the Sky Terrace, an outdoor sanctuary in the heart of the Auckland CBD. With airy, light-filled spaces, spectacular art, café and a variety of seating, the vision for the Sky Lobby is to be the welcoming heart of the commercial office community — a place to support connectivity and exchange.

To provide as much natural light into the lobby as possible a seven metre tall frameless glass assembly, supported with glass fins, wraps around 3 sides of the space. On the Northern side of this lobby the architects, Warren & Mahoney chose a record Diamond Series revolving door as the main access door to the outdoor Sky Terrace area. The full frameless glass design of this door allowing for seamless design integration with the surrounding glazing.

The practicalities of this revolving door are just as important as the design aesthetics, providing a full-time airlock to ensure the internal lobby space maintains a consistent temperature without the wind gust conditions that would normally be expected with sliding or swing doors for such as exposed entrance. This was particularly important due to the position of the lobby café directly within the entrance, to ensure pleasant conditions for the users all year round.

At 2500mm diameter and 3830mm high, this revolving door has the distinction of being both one of the narrowest, and one of the tallest, Diamond revolving doors ever designed and installed by record Automatic Doors.