BARANGAROO PIER COMPETITION

IN COLLABORATION WITH OPENWORK, SARAH LYNN REES, SCOTT CARVER AND WSP

The team were thrilled to have been chosen as one of 5 Stage 2 Finalists and to develop the concept further. The 2020 Barangaroo Pier Pavilion Design Competition was run by Infrastructure NSW.

We acknowledge the Gadigal
Their lands and waters, unceded
Their knowledge and generosity the foundation

The landing
A site whose history is embedded in the culture of place
A place that was defined by the landscape that surrounded it
An edge that meets water that over time had evolved through erosion
A place that provided a livelihood and culture for those who lived there
Air, land, sky, water

As time passed, the land was occupied by the colonisation of Sydney harbour.
A place that then was defined through trade, the mercantile.
Imprinting the edge through utilitarian arms of wharfs, the pier was defined as one that serviced the growing city.

2020 our understanding of this place is now defined through a pier that bleeds into a promenade whose hovering piled structure is concealed by a new landform, a new edge returning its use to the civic.

The genealogy of the seaside pavilions coming out of the Victorian era popularized the ‘pleasure pier’ typology, a manufactured landscape suspended between sky and water. A fantastical setting dominated by the ornate and exotic architecture of these seaside palaces, amazing and entertaining the littoral vacationers.

The pavilion stands as a nod to the times past and the future use of this place.

This is a place that is for celebrating the fantastical
An ornate interior
The view up and out
The shadow cast
A shadow defining the ornament of place
And it’s living memory

A pavilion that is singular in its material fabrication
A memory of what the place once was
The landing of the mercantile
A single material applied to define ceiling, roof, ornament

A place that responds to the value of place
The western aspect towards the headlands
An unencumbered view
An unencumbered outlook
An unencumbered place
A place that shimmers and shifts
Robust yet delicate

Singular in its appearance as an object on edge
Land that hovers and defines its place through occupation of the new
A space that is occupied through a defined ground plane that therefore celebrates the ceiling above
A projected light defined through a patternation
Ornament
An edge feathered by erosion and time – an ecology of place
The night sky and Hawksbury sandstone formations

This is not about assuming but rather providing a framework for engagement.
The arrangement of this form provides a framework for engagement with Gadigal

The concept is intended to allow those who enter to form their own memories, bring their own interpretations
The design represents an imagination of opportunity
A night sky projected onto the ground
An opportunity to embed Gadigal astronomy
The carving of the interior

This is a democratic space. A space for all.
A space that defines itself through roof and interior
The spectacle
The world that is another
Place

Images by Doug & Wolf

BACK TO TOP

MUIR ARCHITECTURE
LEVEL 1, 25 ELIZABETH STREET
MELBOURNE VIC 3000


+613 9614 0193
MAIL@MUIRARCHITECTURE.COM

© 2023 MUIR ARCHITECTURE