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He said the collaborating architects shared a love of substantial materials such as timber,masonry,concrete,stone and steel.
“The Sydney CBD has become kind of this soulless,dreary place,in my view,and I think Central Barangaroo is an antidote to that. It’s a place about people. This is a new city,it’s a new ’hood.
“It will be something much more meaningful,coherent,beautiful.”
Camilla Block,also a director of Durbach Block Jaggers,said the “timeless,archaic” buildings would provide a backdrop for a precinct that was bustling “24 hours a day,seven days a week”.
“The idea is that it’s got an easy vitality,but it’s continuous.”
William Smart,who is founder and creative director of Smart Design Studio,expected it would feel casual,a place where Sydneysiders could “take your shoes off a bit more”.
“It should feel quite different from Barangaroo South,it should feel much more connected to Millers Point and The Rocks. I think if we were building more towers down there we’d only be getting more grief.”
While the masterplan principles guiding the design of the precinct have been finalised,the maximum building heights for the Central Barangaroo precinct have not yet made public.
The shape of development was likely affected by theconfidential settlement the NSW government reached with Crown and Lendlease in 2019,following a long legal battle over views from their buildings at Barangaroo South.
There is scope for taller towers above the Metro station,however,the precinct is broadly described as mid-rise.
Architect Philip Thalis,a City of Sydney councillor,said the view towards Observatory Hill was “pretty fundamental and basically anything[built] above six to eight storeys would be disastrous to that”.
“Why the secrecy? It’s our land.”
Updated plans,which will detail potential uses and the parameters for development,are expected to be submitted to the Department of Planning,Industry and Environment before the end of the year.
They will go on exhibition for public feedback. The precinct will be completedafter the Metro station opens in 2024.
David Jaggers,also a director of Durbach Block Jaggers,said the timing of the project made it an “exciting” opportunity to reinvent part of the city for a post-COVID world.
John Wardle,who collaborated with Durbach Bloch Jaggers on the Phoenix Central Park building,said the central staircase sweeping from the foreshore to Miller’s Point and Observatory Hill would become its own civic space.
“There’s a massive scale shift from the water’s edge up past Hickson Road to where it connects with the topography of Sydney that’s set above it,so those steps are incredibly important,” he said.
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Mr Wardle’s firm is designing a corner block,fronting the foreshore park,which he describes as the site’s “navigational marker”. It will include an underground auditorium,dubbed the “town hall”,for shows and public events.
Nearby,Mr Smart’s firm is designing a warehouse-style office block,featuring a 100-metre long atrium,on Hickson Road. He said timber,concrete and brick would add “substance,strength and rawness”.
“I’d like to have a building that’s more focused on masonry than chasing views,and talks more to the heritage of the site.”
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Mr Jaggers said the architects had a vested interest in the future of Barangaroo and wanted to make a positive contribution.
“The fact we have to live in Sydney as well,we can’t just fly back off to somewhere else,makes the pressure to do that[job] well even greater.”
Block agreed:“We love Sydney. This is our home. This is what we’re invested in.
“There is an era for locals to have a voice and we’re very happy that it’s now,and it’s us.”
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