Brisbane CBD, 2024

Piccadilly is an interlude in the commercial urban fabric of Brisbane’s CBD – a small insertion in the city generating presence through proportion, detail, materiality, and intrigue.

Behind a modest street frontage at 340 Queen Street, this small office building refurbishment retains its 1892 roof structure, inserts an additional floor, and converts a basement carpark into a restaurant by J.AR Office.

The building’s evolution — from 19th-century ironmongery to 1950s Piccadilly Arcade — is told through stripped-back historic fabric, including remnant murals from its days as the Primitif Café, the 1950s–70s nightspot that launched the Bee Gees.

Its new façade recalls the original twin recessed entrances and showcase window, now home to a commissioned artwork by Queensland artist Kenji Uranishi.

Sustainability runs through the building’s fabric retention, natural ventilation, atrium daylight and cold-shell tenancies.