The NSW Government launched a national design competition inviting Australian architects to submit their ideas for a pavilion structure at Watermans Cove in Barangaroo. The competition received great interest from the Australian architect community with over 170 entries. A competition jury, comprising of leading figures in the Australian architectural community, shortlisted five finalists and selected the winning design.
Jessica Spresser (SPRESSER) + Peter Besley + Arup
The pavilion design celebrates the elements that compose the site – land, sea and sky. It was selected by the competition jury who appreciated its usability and inclusivity, timeless appeal, and relationship to its surroundings.
Image © Jessica Spresser (SPRESSER) + Peter Besley + Arup
The land is celebrated as a gathering space under a landscape canopy, the sea with the use of Sydney oyster shell in the materials, and the sky with a perfect circle through its canopy. The Pier Pavilion will be used for a broad range of programmed events and open year-round for people to gather and relax at Sydney’s iconic harbour.
John Bohane and Luke Pigliacampo (with Peter Stutchbury and Arup)
The design concept was constructed around acknowledging the site’s cultural and industrial past while also celebrating its return to the people of Sydney and its ongoing regeneration and revitalisation.
Image © John Bohane and Luke Pigliacampo (with Peter Stutchbury and Arup)
The design’s structure was built around a dome – the circle being a commonly used symbol in many indigenous cultures, including the Eora. The Jury acknowledged the simple but powerful and focused monument, which presents as a strong sculptural marker in the surrounding urban landscape.
Retallack Thompson (with COX Architecture)
The design aims to celebrate the transition between the constructed, vertical city and the natural horizontal harbour creating a place where people can come together. The proposed design includes a semi-circular canopy draping over a supportive timber structure.
Image © Retallack Thompson (with COX Architecture)
The design of the pavilion offers the purest form of shelter; a protecting canopy and buffering wall for one to seek refuge and provide prospect. The Jury acknowledged the detailed development of this scheme, resulting in a very simple, crystalline structure that would also be a beautiful lantern at night.
MUIR Architecture, Openwork, Sarah Lynn Rees (with Scott Carver and WSP)
The proposed pavilion design draws its inspiration from naturally formed sandstone caves that represent seemingly impossible structural realities, places of shelter and refuge.
Image © MUIR Architecture, Openwork, Sarah Lynn Rees (with Scott Carver and WSP)
The structure is made of a random arrangement of circular stainless-steel tubes and light penetrations offering a range of visual and sound experiences within the pavilion throughout the day. The Jury was impressed with the poetic and ‘fantastical’ conceptual framework of this scheme and found it to be a beautiful, organic and mysterious structure.
Durbach Block Jaggers and Sue Barnsley Design
The ‘Flowers and clouds’ pavilion aims to be a moment of intimate containment, softness and movement. The design concept consists of a sloped landscaped berm planted with coastal flowers around a circular plaza covered with a translucent canopy.
Image © Durbach Block Jaggers and Sue Barnsley Design
The light and reflective quality of the roof is an inviting antidote to the built environment, connecting to the lightness and movement of clouds, sails and water. The Jury found this to be a beautiful and joyful proposition, that created a light-filled garden room beside the water, as a contrast to the intensity of the built forms around the site. Source and images Courtesy of Barangaroo.