The design strategy was to restore the existing structure’s prominence in the parkland and create better physical and visual connections around it.
Three buildings that surrounded and attached to the grandstand, cutting it off from the street and parkland behind, were demolished. In order to minimize the impact of the new additions, they are placed directly behind the grandstand and divided into 3 smaller buildings instead of one building, reducing the overall bulk and scale.
The new buildings are set off the grandstand with a passageway between them. Connection between the new and the old is on the first floor via a steel mesh walkway that lightly bridges the four buildings allowing light to filter below. The ancillary buildings are clad in the same weatherboard profile as the grandstand and with the heights of the new buildings aligning with the grandstand; they echo the scale and expression of the grandstand.
The ground floor of the three new buildings houses the male and female public toilets and a storage room. At high level, the timber façade into each of these rooms is perforated with a flower pattern allowing natural light and ventilation into these spaces, casting flower patterns around the rooms. The ground staff facilities on the top floor are also animated with perforations and views to the sky and trees through round skylights.
Location: Reg Bartley Oval, Rushcutters Bay Park NSW, Australia -33.873925, 151.228605
Date: 2011
Design Team: Thierry Lacoste, David Stevenson, Angela Rowson, Sasha Jovanovic, Adam Grasso, Alicia Bayl, Bart Dewilde, Sergio Corona, Chloe Lanser, Djibraan Hossen, Leonard Wong, Felicity Gill, Louise Parsonage, Lucie Hybnerova
Landscape Architect: JMD Design: Anton James, Kathryn Stewart
Structural Engineer: Simpson Design Associates: Andrew Simpson, Scott Baty
ESD, Hydraulic Engineer: Harris Page: Scott Johnson, David Page, Philip Restifo
Electrical / Lighting Engineer: Lighting, Art & Science: Peter McLean
Heritage Architect: Urbis: Steven Davies, Jennifer Faddy
Mechanical Engineer: Erbas & Associates: Ken Erbas, Sylvia Enders
BCA: Advance Building Approvals: Ian Pickering
PCA: BCA Logic: Stuart Boyce
Access: Accessibility Solutions: Mark Relf
Contractor: CBG
Photography/Images: Lacoste + Stevenson Architects
