Sirius

BACK IN PRINT 2024!

Sirius describes an extraordinary story of survival against the odds and traces the design, life and community of one of the most notable Brutalist buildings in Australia.

Prizes and Awards

• SIRIUS was awarded the 2020 Adrian Ashton Prize for Architectural Culture & Literature.
• SIRIUS was a Finalist for the National Gallery of Victoria's International Cornish Family Prize for Art and Design Publishing.

The story of Sirius begins with the 1970s Battle for The Rocks and a Green Ban, which saved an historic precinct located under and around the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. The four-year Green Ban ended once it was agreed to build Sirius to house displaced public tenants after a controversial redevelopment proposal for the area. Architect Tao Gofers explains how this agreement was reached and how he designed a vertical village perhaps the last, and arguably the most successful, tower built for public housing in this era.

In 2015, Sirius itself became the centre of controversy as the New South Wales Government sought to sell off the building to developers and remove its public housing residents, forever changing the fabric of the local community and Sirius's original intention.

Local Millers Point, Dawes Point and Rocks residents joined with hundreds of passionate advocates from across Australia - including architects, professional bodies and the Historic Houses Trust, to protest against this change. The "Save Our Sirius" campaign was born, of which Piper Press and its publishers John Dunn and Margaret Bishop were key participants.

“If you believe Sydney should be more than just an enclave for the rich, then this is a fight you should be part of. Whether you love the look of Sirius or not, the issues in play here are far deeper than aesthetics. At the heart of it, the Berejiklian State Government don’t believe low income people should be living in the city (and certainly not with harbour views) and they’re pushing these them out to the city fringe, far from their communities, transport networks, employment and other support services. But Sirius housed the tightknit community that fought to protect The Rocks in the ‘70s, local residents whose roots go back to the early colony. And this building was purpose-built to house them after those very important fights." Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore.

Piper Press published this beautiful book to record not just a building and its remarkable architecture facing destruction, but to trace an important social history of a unique public housing community and many of its individual residents. A must-have for architects, urban planners, designers, design-lovers, policy makers, economists and social housing advocates.

Photos of the Sirius launch can be seen here.

More information

Save Our Sirius Foundation

Saving Sirius: Why heritage protection should include social housing

‘It feels gross’: ad for Sydney’s ‘luxury’ Sirius building criticised as insult to former social housing tenants

I designed the Sirius building but I wish the government had knocked it down

From social housing to $1.5m for a studio: minister hits out at ‘dud deal’ sale of Sydney’s Sirius building