At its base, Opera Residences’ grand colonnade includes three levels of retail and hospitality, completing the public walkway at East Circular Quay and reinvigorating a previously blighted waterfront area. The design includes landscape improvements and kiosk facilities in the adjacent areas of the public domain. A grand public stairway links Circular Quay to the Royal Botanic Gardens, completing the colonnade. Above the stone and concrete podium, the architecture of the apartments extends the street-wall of East Circular Quay and Macquarie Street and includes a lantern-like element of larger apartments that take full advantage of their position on the harbour.

Opera Residences was conceived as a fluid form in stone, concrete and glass, generating a continuous sequence of experiences and interpretive expressive elements from all four facades. The apartment divisions are disguised by glass bay windows to enhance the concept of fluidity and interior outlook using a combination of opaque, fritted and transparent glass bent to tight radii. The architecture is formed from a deep appreciation of the role and responsibility of new developments in the culturally significant precinct.

Observing its proximity to the world heritage listed SOH and Fort Denison, Opera Residences respectfully enriches the public domain at Circular Quay and on Macquarie Street.