Tyrrell and Griffin’s concept focuses upon blurring the physical and metaphysical boundaries between the local culture of Parramatta, and its local ecosystem, finding moments of architectural drama at their junction.
Drawing showing the natural processes of the river, its species diversity and how this is translated into an architecture which is ‘of’ the river. View over raingarden edge and into ‘The Birdshell’.
The scheme recognises that the site is located at a brackish point of the river where the fresh water from the inland meets the salt water from the coast. This mixing of waters produces a highly diverse ecosystem at a local level. It is a place where species of fish meet, where salt and freshwater tolerant plant species are found and where hundreds of birds are attracted to the mix.
Interestingly, the site also occurs at a key urban point where the busy urban spine of Church Street meets the river. Unfortunately, Parramatta has progressively turned its back on its river, which has become a forgotten drain rather than a living, changing natural focus for the city.
A view from the river into the proposal, showing the birdshell weaving beneath existing road/river infrastructure, further blurring the rivers edge.
Next, a series of ‘program intensifiers’ are layered on the design. Local culture is intensified through the creation of an urban incubator for innovation and ideas. This takes the form of small studio spaces, research labs, aged and childcare, performance spaces and university and corporate support shopfronts. Together, this small-scale urbanism plugs into the disused rear of shops and creates a humming cultural district which moves out over the river.
View towards the innovation incubator, showing how new urban forms are clipped onto the dead edges of existing buildings. Also shows power generation grid overlaying the rivers edge.
The site is allowed to flood regularly, and runoff is collected in a mosaic of raingardens that treat stormwater from the urban core of the design and release it clean to the river. Ultimately, the river has no edge in the final proposal; it is an urbanism ‘of ‘ a river rather than ‘beside’ a river.
The Parramatta City Council has been talking about turning Parramatta into Venice since mid 2010. However, Parramatta council does not need to copy the European model. Griffin and Tyrrell’s winning scheme aims to show that Parramatta has its own unique and Australian landscape identity, which should be fused with its own local culture to create a catalytic urbanism suited to Sydney’s second city, not Italy’s.
Complete competition board of the "Innovation Ecosystem" entry
