Public Services / Synthetic Park
Work completed while employed by Skidmore Owings Merrill, LLP. Chicago
Competition text: "We believe that the central business district of Sydney is perfectly situated to be sup- ported by two very different types of park systems - one 'natural' that culminates at the Opera House and one 'synthetic' that culminates at the Millers Point. Together each work to provide Sydney with a complete public services and park strategy.
The history of Sydney, like all cities that lie upon the water, is marked by encroachment. Urban landfills, pilings, and massive concrete blocks clutter the edges of the waterline to produce a series of synthetic edges that are powerful reminders of the aged industrial landscapes that we have inherited. The challenge for Sydney rests in understanding how it can live with these edges and landscapes by occupying them in meaningful, sustainable, balanced, and delightful ways. Our project investigates this idea to produce a public system that informs the development of this site while also providing a framework for furthering these ideas throughout the city.
When we began to explore the history of Sydney and the contexts that surround the region we realized that the greatest concentration of waterside developments that encroach and destroy the natural water edge are found within Darling Harbour. After also looking at the existing park and infrastructural systems within Sydney we quickly came to the conclusion that there were many undiscovered possibilities for connecting this site to a larger system of parks - two park systems emerged and our site belonged to one of them. The first is an industrial, 'synthetic' park system located along the water's edge to the west of the CBD (in which our site falls). The second is a 'natural' park system that stretches from the southern reaches of the city to the near east side of the CBD where it is terminated by the most prominent building in Sydney - the Opera House. From this point it became clear that our site would be the terminus of a much larger synthetic and industrial park system and as such it had to acknowledge its industrial heritage while also providing the city with an new pubic face that is cable of being extended in the future. We also felt that the importance of the site and its close proximity to Sydney's CBD demanded that any approach taken must strive to make as much of the site open to the public as possible. The result was a series of "floating buildings" and "floating folded landscapes". This idea enabled us to treat buildings as raised, ephemeral objects that floated at the water's edge while maintaining a public foreshore. The idea also provided us with a means of thinking about the landscape of this site as a series of panels that float and fold to seamlessly integrate services into the park.
The massing that resulted from this approach was unique. Like ships that dock to a shore our buildings float at the water's edge opening up the rest of the site for spaces that flow easily
and connect into the urban fabric along Hickson road as well as down to the aquarium. The buildings act to hold the edge of the site while the panel-like folded landforms mould themselves to any urban
condition in the lightest and simplest of ways. Finally, to acknowledge Australia's most prominent architect, Glen was right when he said that buildings need to touch the ground lightly - we add that our
landscapes must do this too!