DISTURBED SOIL: A neighbourhood At White Bay by UNSWBE

DISTURBED SOIL A NEIGHBORHOOD AT WHITE BAY

UNSW BA LARCH DESIGN REPORT GEORGINA PURKISS 2021

I would like to acknowledge that this project is situated on Gadigal Land. I pay respects to elders of this land past, present and emerging. I also acknowledge the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People from many Indigenous Nations and pay respect to their strong living culture and their elders past, present and emerging. I would like to acknowledge that you cannot engage with the landscape without without engaging with aboriginal culture, people and country and you cannot engage with politics within the landscape without acknowledging our violent colonial history that has taken place on this land and the impact that ongoing systemic racism has on the lives of Aboriginal people. Gadigal Land has long been a creative and education hub for Aboriginal people and this project intends to support the inclusion and representation of Aboriginal people on their own land. The sovereignty of this land was never ceded and it always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.

CONTENTS 01 02

INTRODUCTION Urban Political Ecology

05-07

PROJECT SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

Urban Context Fundamental Assets P.O.D Site Selection

TEND: RESPONDING TO THE SITE Site Analysis Post Industrial Gardens (Precedent studies)

MEND: REPAIRING THE LANDSCAPE Design Intent Design Principles

RENEW: DESIGN PROCESS Preliminary Timeline Phytoremediation Garden Artificial Sea-life Habitat Coal Garden

09-14 15-18 19-20 21 22 23-26 27-28

REGENERATE: DETAILED DESIGN

Phase 1: Invisible Bloom Phase 2: Concreting community Phase 3: Inundated Energy REFERENCES

33 35-36 37-42 43-45 46-47 48

49-55 56-59 60-73 74

30-31 32

INTRODUCTION The theory of urban political ecology recognises that urban forms are created through patterns of relationships between social, economic and environmental processes. If this is the case, could a landscape lead precinct that prioritises ecological and cultural infrastructure create a more diverse and inclusive landscape so that the city remains a socially, economically, politically and ecologically viable space for all? Highly valued harbour landscapes such as Barangarroo and Pyrmont that have once been important locations for wharf work and working class culture in Sydney and are excellent case studies when predicting the business as usual approach to the renewal of White Bay. These places have seen a monumental physical transition since Aboriginal land management pre-1770 to the industrial revolution in the 19th century and until today. From the beginning of European occupation of the land, the waterfront landscape of Sydney harbour and its ecology has been intensely exploited and polluted by industrial activities. The land from has been cut into or filled and reclaimed, vegetation has been cleared, creeks concreted and soil and seas pollutes by heavy metals and chemicals. The European approach to land management is far from the traditional owners strong commitment to their role as custodians of the land and belief that if you take care of the land , it will take care of you. Understanding and owning what has happened to these places and giving people the agency to be involved in what happens to their own landscape is an important process in the healing of these landscapes. However, the waterfront of Sydney Harbour today keenly expresses Australia’s neoliberal political climate, with increasing imbalances of urban power over landscape power. The widely undesirable, noisy, dirty and polluted industrial landscapes of Sydney Harbour that were once central to the economic function of the city can barley be seen today and they are almost forgotten. These landscapes have been gentrified to become places you can visit, look at or purchase rather than live in, explore, create and activate. Landscape can be a driving factor for political and economic change as well as a limiting factor to change. By looking beyond sustainability and towards regenerative landscapes and providing people with the opportunity to be involved in the life of the city can promote transitional economies where there is a conversation between humans needs n and the ecology within the landscape. The landscape at the bays still functions today as an industrial site. The Bays West Strategy recognises ports and working harbour operations as a living powerful economic force while there is a need to include people to enhance the area’s life and vitality. This strategy has been vital to the vision for the this project and aims to integrate “maritime and industrial stories to shape an innovative and sustainable new place for living, recreation and working.” (Draft Bays West Place Strategy 2021). There is an opportunity to create a diverse mixed use precinct that balances political, cultural, economic and ecological forces. One of the great opportunities for the industrial site at White Bay is its “size, the way it is distinctively different from and embedded in the urban context” (Braae, Ellen 2015). Postindustrial sites often “cannot be re-inscribed in a production-bound situation again, but it is necessary to find new, positively associated uses for them. They are therefore obvious laboratories for projecting visions for the future based on a widely interpreted perspective of sustainability” (Braae, Ellen 2015). The role of post industrial sites projecting visions into the future is exceptionally relevant today with the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference cementing the urgent need for High emitters such as Australia to help climatevulnerable countries by taking quick and meaningful action against climate change. The post industrial landscape is first and foremost in need of healing and remediation while its urban context provides possibilities of redefining our production landscape to be sustainable and community orientated. This project will investigate through design how a mixed use precinct can strategically enhance equity and diversity so that the needs of both human and non human stakeholders are met and the harbour city remains a socially, economically, politically and ecologically viable space for all.

SOCIO-POLITICAL LANDSCAPE DESIGN A STUDY OF THE POLITICAL IMPORTANCE OF DESIGNED LANDSCAPES

Georgina Purkiss z5165112

FRAMEWORK: We now find our selves well into the ecological epoch of the Anthropocentric, based on overwhelming evidence that the earths atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biospheric and other earth system processes are now altered by humans.(5) This is a unique point in history where our globalized economy has fabricated international challenges such as the very real threat of climate change. In response, the United nations has set 17 interlinked global sustainable development goals as a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all” (6). All of these goals are directly related to themes of social justice and deeply rooted in human activity. Landscape is complex construct consisting of the inter-relationships of space, systems and people. Much research in the landscape field is coined around environmental performance with landscapes categorised into subsequent ‘isms’ which too often “neglect aesthetic, cultural, social and political dimensions of some contemporary landscape urbanism projects.” (6) The idea that humans are separate from nature too often, cuts our ties with the landscape and undermines the political and social conditions that have catalysed the current geological age that we find ourselves in.

BARANGAROO HEADLAND PARK

LANDSCHAFTSPARK DUISBURG-NORD

A concrete container terminal “reborn” as a naturalistic rocky outcrop (1) LOCATION: Sydney, Australia

A parkland in which industrial use was taken, developed and re – interpreted with a new syntax, existing fragments were interlaced into a new ”landscape”. (4)

AREA: 6HA (1) DESIGNERS: Australian landscape architects Johnson Pilton Walker in association with US-based Peter Walker & Partners (2) BUILT: 2015

LOCATION: Duisburg-Meiderich, Germany.

LOCATION: New York, USA AREA: 3.75 km² DESIGNERS: collaboration between James Corner Field Operations (Project Lead), Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Piet Oudolf. (4)

AREA: 180 HA (3)

BUILT: 2011

DESIGNERS: Latz + Partners BUILT: 2002

CHARACTER

CONTEXT

THE HIGH LINE

An elevated, linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad.

1836 Headland (2)

2004 POST INDUSTRIAL SCAR Last used as a Ship yard (image source: Nearmap)

2015 Naturalised Headland park (2)

ROACH

RE-STYLING SYDNEY: THE GREEN LIFESTYLE

1901 demand for steel from the US and the German navy’s extensive shipbuilding plans led to the building of a blast furnace plant in Meiderich to produce pig iron

1985: Duisburg, was abandoned by the steel industry and began decaying

1991: Te design process for the new park began (image source: Nearmap)

MEMORY GARDENS FROM AESTHETIC ABANDONMENT

1934: The Hiline was operational, transporting millions of tons of meat, dairy, and produce (4)

1960s Train use dwindled due to the rise in trucking with all traffic stopped by the 80s (4)

The Highline today as a 1.45-mile-long greenway (4)

AN UNEXPECTED ECONOMIC ASSET

The High Line is an accidental landscape produced by decades of abandonment and spontaneous plant growth. The redesign is suggestive of contemporary efforts to bring nature back into cities through the development of green space in degraded or abandoned urban sites. The purpose of

1836 Headland (2)

2004 POST INDUSTRIAL SCAR Last used as a Ship yard (image source: Nearmap)

1901 demand for steel from the US and the German navy’s extensive shipbuilding plans led to the building of a blast furnace plant in Meiderich to produce pig iron

2015 Naturalised Headland park (2)

BARANGAROO HEADLAND PARK

1991: Te design process for the new park began (image source: Nearmap)

LANDSCHAFTSPARK DUISBURG-NORD MEMORY GARDENS FROM AESTHETIC ABANDONMENT

A concrete container terminal “reborn” as a naturalistic rocky outcrop (1)

RE-STYLING SYDNEY: THE GREEN LIFESTYLE

LOCATION: Sydney, Australia

A parkland in which industrial use was taken, developed and re – interpreted with a new syntax, existing fragments were interlaced into a new ”landscape”. (4)

AREA: 6HA (1)

LOCATION: Duisburg-Meiderich, Germany.

DESIGNERS: Australian landscape architects Johnson Pilton Walker in association with US-based Peter Walker & Partners (2) CONTEXT

1985: Duisburg, was abandoned by the steel industry and began decaying

AREA: 180 HA (3)

BUILT: 2015

DESIGNERS: Latz + Partners BUILT: 2002

Winning competition entry (2006) by Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects et al. This design acknowledged maritime and industrial history of Walsh Bay and Millers Point by maintaining shipping uses; celebrating the heritage of wharves, walls and buildings and marking the site’s history through strategic interventions (8) ‘from local Sydney talent who have a deep understanding of Sydney’s urban and natural form’ (7)

The design takes on an opposing approach to Sydney’s headland park by fusing remnants of the former plant with the historical memory of the site’s abuse. Visitors have the opportunity to re-appropriate terrain once controlled by industry. The park obscures the site’s social significance, thus affirming rather than contesting the destructive logic of industrial production.

1934: The Hiline was operational, transporting millions of tons of meat, dairy, and produce (4)

1960s Train use dwindled due to the rise in trucking with all traffic stopped by the 80s (4)

The Highline today as a 1.45-mile-long greenway (4)

THE HIGH LINE

An elevated, linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad. LOCATION: New York,AN USAUNEXPECTED ECONOMIC ASSET

The High Line is an accidental landscape produced by decades of abandonment and spontaneous AREA: 3.75 km² plant growth. The redesign is suggestive of contemporary efforts to bring nature back into cities through the development of green space in degraded or abandoned urban sites. The purpose of DESIGNERS: collaboration between James Corner Field Operations (Project Lead), Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and the landscape is to “evoke socio-natural entanglement and creative engagements with urban abanPiet Oudolf. (4) donment” (11). The High Line is currently the most expensive park per acre in New York City. It BUILT: 2011 public and private investment, suggesting that new modes of public space prois funded by both visioning that are deeply tied into the mechanics of real estate speculation and development. The popularity of the highly managed park can be criticised in that the tourism value overshadows its relationship to neighborhood green space. Design moves: - Urban re-use - Recyclable and locally sourced materials to cut down their carbon footprint, - Avoiding the use of noxious chemicals and solvents in their maintenance operations and using native, - Drought tolerant, low maintenance species for creating habitats or a variety of wild-life species. - Green roof for absorption of storm-water

CHARACTER

The international success the park is due to its purposeful cultural rebirth of the Ruhr district’s industrial loci by celebration of aesthetic

DESIGN APPROACH

Revised design featuring a naturalistic park (2010). Controversially, the winning design was reduced to a concept plan. Prominent international designers Peter Walker and Richard Rogers were commissioned to produce a ‘natural headland’. Critique 2004 POST INDUSTRIAL SCAR 1836 Headland (2) 2015 Naturalised of the final design suggests that the political kudos of employing international designers and “natuLast used as a Ship yard (image source: Headland park (2) ralising” the harbor reduced landscape architectureNearmap) to a “simplistic nature-culture binary” (9)

Main design moves: - Historic preservation : the redign refers to thr sites themselves as defacto manifestations of German cultural history - Education through aesthetics - Creative reuse - Land Art Fashion

The design of Barangaroo Headland Park draws the conclusion that nature is the absence of humans. For the park to be naturalised must GREEN move beckLIFESTYLE in time. However, nature RE-STYLING SYDNEY:itTHE as a concept is not linear. It is a process made up of systems that live and die and thus the urban from can be seen as part of a natural system if we begin to see humans ad inseparable to nature.

by author

E FOR WHO?

Revised design featuring a naturalistic park (2010). Controversially, the winning design was reduced to a concept plan. Prominent international design-

1901 demand for steel from the US and the German navy’s extensive shipbuilding plans led to the building of a blast furnace plant in Meiderich to produce pig iron

1985: Duisburg, was abandoned by the steel industry and began decaying

1991: Te design process for the new park began (image source: Nearmap)

1934: The Hiline was operational, transporting millions of tons of meat, dairy, and produce (4)

1960s Train use dwindled due to the rise in trucking with all traffic stopped by the 80s (4)

The Highline today as a 1.45-mile-long greenway (4)

Gentrification through development and the landscape becomes a tourist destination MEMORY GARDENS FROM AESTHETIC ABANDONMENT AN UNEXPECTED ECONOMIC ASSET posing questions about ‘Urban grit’Line and decay The High is an accidental landscape produced by decades of abandonment and spontaneous social equity issues (4) becomes ‘trendyThe (4)redesign is suggestive of contemporary efforts to bring nature back into cities plant growth. through the development of green space in degraded or abandoned urban sites. The purpose of the landscape is to “evoke socio-natural entanglement and creative engagements with urban abanby author donment” (11). The High Line is currently the most expensive park per acre in New York City. It by author is funded by both public and private investment, suggesting that new modes of public space provisioning that are deeply tied into the mechanics of real estate speculation and development. The SUMMARY popularity of the highly managed park can be criticised in that the tourism value overshadows its The most pervasive landscapes encountered in our postindustrial era are abused and polluted sites. Post indusrelationship to neighborhood green space. trial sites are highly political as they are remnants of our history and culture that tell a recent story of environmental vandalism. A site’s history whether natural, industrial, or political defines its genius loci and ultimately Design moves: plays a role in the form, meaning, and cultural significance of the new design. This compassion analyses three - Urban re-use globally significant designs with vastly different outcomes; - Recyclable and locally sourced materials to cut down their carbon footprint, 1. Re-naturalization, - Avoiding the use of noxious chemicals and solvents in their maintenance operations and using 2. Reinterpretation of memory native, The design takes on an opposing approach to Sydney’s headland park by fusing remnants of the former 3. Celebration of accidental landscapes. - Drought tolerant, low maintenance species for creating habitats or a variety of wild-life species. plant with the historical memory of the site’s abuse. Visitors have the opportunity to re-appropriate terThe common ground for these projects conveys adaptive reuse of a scared landscape displaying various degrees - Green roof for absorption of storm-water rain once controlled by industry. The park obscures the site’s social significance, thus affirming rather of ‘‘green’’ economic development that reference global efforts to mitigate the effects of environmental degradathan contesting the destructive logic of industrial production. tion as a result of heavy industry. The notion of sustainable development, while heading in the right direction, downplays environmental and social limits to growth in favor of an optimistic, pro-growth narrative. It should The international success the park is due to its purposeful cultural rebirth of the Ruhr district’s industribe recognised in Landscape Architecture that these types of projects can play a role in masking the destructive al loci by celebration of aesthetic attendance of a neo-liberalist society. By creating landscapes that preach sustainability, we are able to maintain the political status quo by employing Main design moves: the enticing idea that ‘green economic development and growth’ will provide the necessary trickle-down effects - Historic preservation : the redign refers to thr sites themselves as defacto manifestations of German for overcoming environmental and economic problems facing urban areas without real political reform. This cultural history highlights the opportunity for new design research and strategies to engage with the global political systems that 7 - Education through aesthetics are at the Centre of the environmental issues we face today. - Creative reuse REFERENCES: - Land Art Fashion (1) Barangaroo. 2021. Barangaroo » Barangaroo Reserve. Available at: <https://www.barangaroo.com/see-and-do/things-to-do/itineraries/barangaroo-re-

PROJECT SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

URBAN CONTEXT | A Place Within The Iconic Sydney Harbour

URBAN CONTEXT | Catchment The ‘Bays Precinct’ lies within the Port Jackson sub-catchment of Sydney Harbour [1]. Today, the water of Rozelle and Blackwattle Bay is severely contaminated by heav y metals, such as copper, lead, and zinc [2]. These metals have adverse impacts to the functioning of aquatic environments, and even to humans if such metals are dissolved in groundwater and surface water [2].

PORT JACKSON Port Jackson Catchment Boundary Tributaries The ‘Bays Precinct’ Study Area

1:50,000 @ A3

[1] - Page 7 of the Document - Donaldson, P, Rissik, D, Vos, C, Downes, A & Gough, M 2018, Greater Sydney Harbour Estuary Coastal Management Program Scoping Study Final Report, NSW Government, Accessed 7 March 2021, <https://w w w. sydneycoastalcouncils.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Greater-SydneyHarbour-Coastal-Management-Plan-Scoping-Study.pdf>. [2] Montoya, D 2015, Pollution in Sydney Harbour: sewage, toxic chemicals and microplastics, NSW Parliamentary Research Service, Accessed 12 March 2021, <https://w w w.parliament.nsw.gov.au/researchpapers/Documents/pollution-insydney-harbour-sewage-toxic-chemica/Pollution%20in%20Sydney%20Harbour.pdf>. *Analysis by Sara Curukovska as part of LAND2411 Group project: Study Area Analysis

Kirribilli

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Barangaroo Headland Park

Balmain

Glebe Island

Rozelle Bay

URBAN CONTEXT | Rozelle to Kirriblli Section

Built Form

Topography (VE= 1/10)

Sound and Intensity

Vegetation and Canopy Cover

Pedestrian Volume

Vehicle Volume

Bridge Rd, Glebe

Glebe Point

Rozelle Bay

White Bay Power Station

Darling St, Balmain

URBAN CONTEXT | Balmain to Glebe Section

Built Form

Topography (VE= 1/10)

Sound and Intensity Vegetation and Canopy Cover

Pedestrian Volume

Vehicle Volume 12

URBAN CONTEXT | Demographics

POPULATION

* Analysis by Caleb Wright as part of LAND2411 Group project: Study Area Analysis

MEDIAN AGE

MEDIAN OCCUPATION

URBAN CONTEXT | TRANSIT

Transit gap: Most forms of transport found at the study area move straight past or around the site. This demonstrates the disconnect that the study area has with the larger urban system. This has been a barrier to landscape change in the past, preventing White Bay Power station to be transformed into a new google headquaters in 2015. However, the new metro line connecting Sydney’s west to the CBD is expected to open in 2024 and presents an opportunity for public transport to drive a revival of the area. * Maps created by Isabel Peng as part of LAND2411 Group project: Study Area Analysis

FUNDAMENTAL ASSETS | History 1. 2. INDUSTRIAL REPAIRING HOMAGE CONNECTIONS

3. “ALTERNATIVE PARKLAND” 2.

2. DESIGN HISTORY:

TIME > PRE -ANTHROPROCENE

IDLE SITE

Historical maps and geomorphologic studies clue us to the original form and shape of Sydney Harbour’s foreshore pre-colonisation adn industrialisation(Mackenzie 2011).

As industry moves into the suburbs, the landscape idles. In a state of derelication and disuse the land is enclosed by large fences and drastics cuts into the sandstone. Most industral lands have become storage grounds(Mackenzie 2011).

IDUSTRIALISATION Headlands are manilputed and cut away to make room for wharfs, marine industry and other industries(Mackenzie 2011). Foreshore is delpleted of original Indigenous plantings and many of the former natual features.

* Analysis by Shirelle Altona as part of LAND2411 Group project: Study Area Analysis

“ALTERNATIVE PARKLAND” RECLAMATION The social and physical changes of the city environmental lead to new needs to escape Through-out the 21st Century, from the city and find recreation. This was not harbour-side parks expressed attainable through the conventions of a desire to bring nature into tradtional city parklands. In response to these the city (Harding & Hawken new needs, Bruce Mackenzie lead a new 2012). However, from the ‘alternative’ approach to the redevelopment 20 Refer 1970’s most parks have been of foreshore parks (Mackenzie 2011). created on Post-Industrial to next page for more information. sites. (Harding & Hawken 2012). Refer to next page for more information.

RESTORATION Barangaroo is an example of a recreated headland park. The design aim is to restore the visual geography of Sydney Harbour. Refer to the next page for more information.

FUNDAMENTAL ASSETS | Reclaimed Land

Ever since the earth 19th century, the expansion of Sydney has significantly transformed the waterfronts of White Bay, Rozelle Bay, and Blackwattle Bay [2]. These shorelines were developed for the primary use and operation of industries, such as the Glebe Island abattoir, Glebe Island Port and Silos, and White Bay Power Station.

Land that has been reclaimed

[ 2] Bi rch , G, Mu r ray, O, Joh n son , I & W ilson , A 2 0 0 9, ‘Recla mat ion i n Syd ney Est ua r y, 178 8–2 0 02’, Au st ralian G eog rapher, rapher, Volu me 4 0, Issue 3, Pages 3 47-3 6 8 , Accessed 13 Ma rch 2 021, DOI: 10.10 8 0/ 0 0 0 4918 0 9 0312778 8 .

* Analysis by Sara Curukovska as part of LAND2411 Group project: Study Area Analysis

FUNDAMENTAL ASSETS | Landform

BUILT LANDFORM

Data sourced from ‘Google Earth Pro 2021’.

Not to scale.

* Analysis by Sara Curukovska as part of LAND2411 Group project: Study Area Analysis

HYBRID LANDFORM

Data sourced from ‘Google Earth Pro 2021’.

Not to scale.

NATURAL LANDFORM

Data sourced from ‘Google Earth Pro 2021’.

Not to scale.

FUNDAMENTAL ASSETS | Heritage GLEBE ISLAND PORT WHITE BY CRUISE TERMINAL ROZELLE BAY COMMERCIAL MARITIME DISUSED INDUSTRIAL INFRASTRUCTURE SYDNEY FISH MARKETS HERITAGE STRUCTURES DISUSED: • White Bay Power Station and the main boiler house structure. • Rozelle Rail Yards. • Glebe Island Bridge resting in ‘open’ position.21 FUNCTIONING: Glebe Island Port and Silos: dry bulk (gypsum, sugar, salt and cement), bulk liquids (oils, lubricants and tallow), passenger cruise vessels and other uses.22 • White Bay Cruise Terminal, Balmain. Marine refueling.23 • Rozelle Bay SuperYacht Marina and Working Port Facilities.24 • Blackwattle Bay Sydney Fish Market.25 • Heritage Bald Rock Hotel. • Heritage residential terraces. • Heritage Cadden Le Messurier. • Heritage White’s Creek Stormwater Channel No.95.26

An Urban Growth report released in 2015 stated that “The Bays will be revitalised as a world-class, iconic waterfront destination, and deliver vibrant and dynamic places for the city and the state” In a previous design investigation our team asked the question: What does it mean to be ‘World Class’ and how can the bays emerge as a ‘world class Landscape. People Orientated Design was a response to the corperate, homeogenous landscapes that we have personally experienced around Sydney harbour. In recent years, the way we work has transformed tremendously – no more are traditional industries the mainstay of economies, but powerful forces like automation, global competition, and social media are [1]. This has resulted in “world class” cities no longer being incubators for their people and culture, but rather transient places defined by capitalist profits and alienation. Therefore, in a time where we are feeling more connected than ever, our cities have us feeling the opposite. ‘POD’ will redefine the way we live and work in a “world class” city - putting the needs of “users” in front of land “uses”. This redefinition promotes “a new kind of Sydney urbanism” [2], one which allows investor interests to deviate from traditional profit motives. Instead, it will value a new form of urban living that appreciates society and culture as an asset and measure of a successful “world class” city. No longer will the derelict waterfronts and neighbourhoods of ‘The Bays’ be powered by resource industry, but rather be powered by community and culture - creating vibrant spaces of meaningful social interaction that can enrich local and regional economies.

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/wework-2018/focus-on-community/1832/ [2] https://shared-drupal-s3fs.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/master-test/fapub_pdf/00+-+Planning+Portal+Exhibitions/Bays+west/Draft+Bays+West+Place+Strategy_low+resolution+version.pdf 19

PROJECT SCOPE | Site Selection White Bay Power Station: A key landmark and heritage building that is a key to the history and essence of the landscape

New pedestrian connection from proposed Rozelle parklands to the site

The concrete silos as a key landmark with the opportunity for reuse

The site for the proposed metro station connecting the site to CBD and Western Sydney

Opportunity to create diverse public space at the waterfront

Opportunity for new pedestrian and cycle access from Pyrmont

TEND: RESPONDING TO THE SITE

SITE ANALYSIS | Fundamental Assets

Disturbed, sandy sea floor

Contaminated fill

Novel Ecosystems have formed on parts of the concrete platform where water pools ad sediment creates soil beds for pioneer species

Sedimentary Mudflat

Sandy Soil

Compacted sub-base, Aggregate Road base and ash-felt (Bottom to top)

Sandstone Rock-bed

SITE ANALYSIS | Deep Cut

Contamination from years of industrial activity continues to seep deep into the soil and into the harbor with the wetting of the bedrock as the tides rise and fall. 24

FUNDAMENTAL ASSETS | The Essence Of The Site

CHEMICAL PROCESSES

MUDFLAT SPECIES

ESTUARINE HABITATS

COAL BURNING

FUNDAMENTAL ASSETS | The Essence Of The Site

ABANDONED MATERIALS

RHYTHMIC PATTERNS

HARD EDGES

PRECEDENT STUDIES

Garden of the Future By Atelier Partero The transformation of an abandoned space into a public space. This installation comments on optimism of nature’s regenerative ability through the renewal of a post-industrial space through the expression of art and performance. This project shows how the industrial qualities can be maintained to create a unique aesthetic representing anthropogenigic processes.

PRECEDENT STUDIES

Shoreline Park (JUBILEE PARK) By MARELD + atelier le balto A contaminated, exposed and ruinous former harbor transformed into a laboratory where “ideas on aesthetics, materials, vegetation, and maintenance are tested together with the municipal staff and the public”. (Landazeine 2020). Like white Bay, the landscape was once a functioning wet ecosystem, reclaimed for industrial activities in the 20th century. Features of preredesigned landscape remain while parts of the concrete platform have been cut and filled with soil for gardening.

Existing planting has been delicately maintained with existing materials. The insertion of new planting beds blend into the landscape without the crisp, freshly built feeling.

MEND: REPAIRING THE LANDSCAPE

MEND | Design Intent

To React: Landscape lead interventions that work to heal the scared landscape. The footprint of these will begin to dictate where development will happen.

1. Phyto Remediation and Mycoremediation assisting with the uptake of toxins in the soil.

2. Minimum 40% canopy cover to block particle pollution from fumes of boats and cars that is harmful to human health as well as preventing uncomfortable conditions caused by heat island effect as urban materials absorb and sustain heat from the sunlight. 30

MEND | Design Intent

To Regenerate: The form of the landscape will aim to support the transitional economy that has a gentler impact on the environment.

1. Creating diverse and accessible public open space 2. Community involvement and education in the process of regeneration promoting grass roots action where people have control over their own domain, paths are created from goat tracks leaving the raw and wild landacpe untamed.

MEND | Design Principles 1. Connection To The Waterfront And Reserving Public Space

2. Healing The Land And Sea

3. Creating New Connections, Access Points And Activating Edges

RENEW: DESIGN PROCESS

RENEW | Preliminary Timeline Thinking TIMELINE OF THE BAYS

2025 White Bay Power Station opens for hosting events and West harbour tunnel begins construction.

2030 The Bays West Metro opens

2035 The silos open as the first residential building.

2135 The harbour becomes swimmable

RENEW | Preliminary Timeline Thinking Regenerative: Urban infrastructure that begins with ecology, followed by peopleand culture, followed by business

PHASE 2

PHASE 1

Reactive: Ecological healing and interventions that involve people.

WEST

EAST

RENEW | Preliminary Structure

DESIGN ELEMENTS 1 Pedestrian threshold from Rozelle Parklands to White Bay Power Station. 2 Pedestrian threshold from Roberts street to white Bay Power Station.

4 2

3 1

8 6 7

3 The ‘Coal Museum Garden’ provides public access to White Bay Power station. 4 Roberts street is activated with new zoning for bars and restaurants on the southern side wile Industry is maintained on the northern side providing diverse space activation. 5 Phytoremediation intervention continues 6 Soil form excavated from the local west-connex and Metro development its mixed with existing soils on the site to achieve soil depth for large trees and the process of phytoremediation and ecological succession begins to improve the ecological economy over time. 7 In response to high community interest in community gardens in the Inner West Council, a raised community garden along existing rail refinements provides community members who are interested in gardening processes access to the site with a chance to learn about phytoremediation as well as participate in the growing to food. 8 The ballast bank is physically destabilised by inserting cracks in the structure that allow salt water to break down the bank over time. 9 Inter tidal bridge connecting Balmain to Glebe Island.

RENEW | New connections Sketch Plan

RENEW | Remediation Garden Sketch Section

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

Soil is maintainedo on site to increase depth

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

Expose the concrete

Soil excavated from balmain at the commencement of construction of the western harbour tunnel is taken to site to be remediated. Part of the site is being used to store construction materials for this project.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

500ml of soil unable to support large trees

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

Concete slab under 250ml of soil

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

RENEW | Remediation Garden

The flatness of the is appreciated while the remediation process begins and trees are not yet established. Warm lighting reflects the historical use burning coal.

The landscape begins to provide valuable refuge from the historically exposed conditions

A connected canopy forms protecting people from issues involved with urban heat island and capuring polution particles in the air

RENEW | Remediation Garden

The Garden is left wild while it also functions ad a parkland. People are able to make their own tracks throuhg the space. 6 month cycle

Mowed

Wild

Mow-no mow phyroremediation field

RENEW | Remediation Garden

Phytoremediation garden concept model

RENEW | Artificial Sealife Habitat

Intertidal foot bridge

RENEW | Artificial Sealife Habitat

Intertidal foot bridge

Sea level

RENEW | Artificial Sealife Habitat

Intertidal foot bridge

RENEW | Coal Garden

The Boiler Shead

RENEW | Coal Garden

REGENERATE: DETAILED DESIGN

PHASE 1: INVISIBLE BLOOM

LEGEND Industry Cultural Building Planting Public Open Space Road Network Pedestrian Network

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100

200

Abiding Events: 1. White bay opens as a cultural building. 2. Rozelle park lands opens to the public providing access to the site from the South West. 3. The Large Scale remediation process begins

PHASE 1: INVISIBLE BLOOM

Working waterfront land use is maintained Glebe Island continues functioning as an Important site for Sydney’s urban infrastructure development

Robert street is maintained as a wide street serving warehouses and industry in the area. As this is the main access point to the site, this street will become the high street The prominence of white bay power station as a landmark with in the landscape as well as its cultural and architectural heritage justifies the building to be accessible to the Public. This building is the first catalyst for bringing people into the site The Coal Garden complements the White Bay Power Station, providing public space that references the historic uses of the site Stairs connect the western part of the site to the intimate landscape surrounding the power station to increase accessibility and intrigue The Large and long process of phytoremediation begins with the import of soil from the construction of the north link tunnel excavated from parts of Glebe Rozelle park lands opens up a new connection to the site from the west.

25 50

100

200

PHASE 1: INVISIBLE BLOOM | Borrowed Soil WHITE BAY POWER STATION

EXISTING CONCRETE FOUNDATION

ROBERT STREET

COAL GARDEN

PHYTOREMEDIATION FOREST

CED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

UDENT VERSION

PHYTOREMEDIATION FOREST

PRODUCED BY AN A

COAL GARDEN

PHYTOREMEDIATION FOREST

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERS

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

2. Soil is moved to premeditation forest to expose of concrete slab around power station

3. Approximately 4500 cubic meters of soil is imported from excavation of Balmain for the North connection tunnel to begin to be remediated on site and allow for soil depth for large tree

COAL GARDEN

PHYTOREMEDIATION FOREST

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

1. Existing soil depth

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PHASE 1: INVISIBLE BLOOM | The Coal Garden

IMPORTED SOIL EXISTING SOIL

FOUND MATERIAL FROM SITE PAINTED BLACK TO EMULATE COAL BURNING

SOIL SPRINKLING

SEATING

AMBIENT AMBER LIGHTING TO EMULATE COAL BURNING AND ACTIVATE THE SPACE AT NIGHT

THE COAL GARDEN | Planting: shallow , rocky soil EXISTING CONCETE FOUNDATION SEATING FOUND MATERIAL FROM SITE PAINTED BLACK TO EMULATE COAL BURNING

SMALL TREE SHRUBS AND GRASSES GROUNDCOVERS

Carpobrotus

GROUND COVER

Viola banksii

Ancistrachne maidenii

Grevillea Raptor

Leptospermum petersonii

Grevillea robusta

Banksia aemula

Dianella

SHRUBS AND GRASSES

TREES

PHYROREMEDIATION GARDEN | Planting: Building an connected canopy

TREES

Viola banksii

oplismenus imbecillis

GRASSES AND GROUND COVER

Themeda australis

eucalyptus gummifera

Lantana

Asthma weed

COMMON COLONISING WEEDS

Biden

PHASE 2: Maintinance continues and the cannopy begins to connect, creating a microclimate that is protected ftom urban heat island and air polutants. The Low strata of grasses and ground cover allows the community to use te forest as a parkland.

Ancistrachne maidenii

PHASE 2: Dsired plants are planted in a grid formation and the community is engages to implement weed mantinence

Eucalyptus rossii

PHASE 1: weeds are allowed to colinise and slightly improve soil conditions

PHASE 1: INVISIBLE BLOOM | Bloom Entangle THE GREVILLEA ROBUSTA AND GREVILLA RAPTOR FLOWERS EMULATE THE ENERGY OF A FLAME

THE REMEDIATION FOREST CREATES ITS OWN MICRO-CLIMATE WITHIN ITS CONNECTED CANOPY

Careful maintinence and continuious and plant selection creates an anthropogenic garden scene that introduces coal as a reminent artifact in the the emerging world of renewables.

PHASE 2: CONCRETING COMMUNITY

LEGEND Industry Cultural Building Planting Public Open Space Road Network Pedestrian Network Residential Building Mixed Use and Hostpitality 25 50

100

200

Abiding Events: 1. The Silos are converted into residents 2. The Metro opens up, Connecting the site to Sydney CBD and Sydney West 3. The First Internal Roads are Created 4. The first mixes use buildings open 5. The Waterfront becomes accessible to the public

PHASE 2: CONCRETING COMMUNITY| A sound bath of activity

BIKE PARKING STATIONS ENCOURAGES ACTIVE MODES OF TRANSPORT

A GENEROUS FOOTPATH ALLOWS THE STREET TO BE ACTIVATED

RESTARUNTS ACTIVATE THE WATERFRONT SPACE 24/7 WHILE THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO SOURCE LOCAL GOODS FROM NEARBY WAREHOUSES AND LOCAL BUSINESSES

08m

04m

A BI-LANE CYCLEWAY CONNECTS ROBERT STREET WITH THE REST OF THE SITE INCLUDING THE METRO AND GREBE BRIDGE

THE WIDE STREET ALLOWS INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES OF MAKING AND PRODUCTION TO SPILL OUT INTO THE LANDSCAPE WHILE PROVINING THE NESICIARY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR TRUCKS AND UNLOADING

EXISTING WAREHOUSES INCENTIVEISED FOR DIVERSIFIED BUSINESSES AND OPPORTUNITY TO PROVIDE CHEEP STUDIO SPACE FOR ARTISTS AND CREATORS

STREET PLANTING PROVIDES DRAINAGE FOR THE HARDSCAPE AND A HUMAN SCALE

02m 57

PHASE 2: A SOUND BATH: Planting

CLEAR LINE OF SIGHT

TREE CANOPY

GROUNDCOVER ON EDGES STOP GRASSES FROM SPILLING OUT ONTO THE BIKE TRACK/ROAD

oplismenus imbecillis

Viola banksii

GROUND COVER

Ancistrachne maidenii

Dianella

Carex appressa

SHRUBS AND GRASSES

Themeda australis

Eucalyptus robusta

Eucalyptus rossii

TREES

GRASSES

PHASE 2: CONCRETING COMMUNITY: Industry Continues

INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES GRATE NOISE AS WELL AS A VOID OF ACTIVITY. THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THIS SPACE TO BE ACTIVATED BY GENERALLY UNWANTED INDUSTRIES SUCH AS MAKERS WHO MAKE A LOT OF NOISE IN THEIR PROCESSES OF LIVE MUSIC VENUES

Glebe Island continues to be used for the construction industry. The large amounts of space used for these activities reserve the landscape to be used for public open space on valuable waterfront land. 59

PHASE 3: INUNDATED ENERGY LEGEND Industry Cultural Building Planting Public Open Space Road Network Pedestrian Network Residential Building Mixed Use and Hostpitality Active Public Space Shared Pathway

25 50

100

Abiding Events: 1. Glebe island is given an urban form 2. The Glebe island bridge opens connecting the site to Pyrmont 3. Active interventions 4. Water cleaning and marine habitat is enhanced

200

PHASE 3: INUNDATED ENERGY | Tidal Day Dream

RAISED EDGE PLANTING AND SEATING

HIGH TIDE LOW TIDE

EXISTING CONCRETE PLATFORM LIVING SEA WALL

50M POOL

SUBMERGED POOL BUILDING

RECYCLED INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURES PROVIDING STREET LIGHTING 05m

10m

20m

INTER-TIDAL BRIDGE 61

PHASE 3: INUNDATED ENERGY | Inter-tidal Bridge

GRATE WALKWAY INTER-TIDAL ROCK POOLS SEAGRASS SPECIES

LOW TIDE

PHASE 3: INUNDATED ENERGY | Inter-tidal Bridge

GRATE WALKWAY INTER-TIDAL ROCK POOLS SEAGRASS SPECIES

HIGH TIDE

PHASE 3: Inter-tidal Bridge | Seagrass Planting halophila decipiens

zostera muelleri

Zostera capricorni

posidonia australis

PHASE 3: Inter-tidal Bridge | Rock-pool Planting Muscles

Colpomenia sinuosa

Plocamium sp.

Ulva compressa

White sponge

Oulactis muscosa

Tesseropora rosea

PHASE 3: Inter-tidal Bridge | Lighting

PHASE 3: INUNDATED ENERGY | Giving The Harbor Back

TENNIS COURT WITH LIGHTING SURROUNDING NETS

RECYCLED INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURE CREATING LIGHTBASKETBALL ING FOR COURTS TO BE USED 24/7 COURT

SEATING ALONG THE EDGE DARLING HARBOUR PUBLIC DOMAIN EDGE

LIVING SEA WALLS MADE FROM FOUND MATERIALS ON SITE

PYRMONT PUBLIC DOMAIN EDGE

GLEBE ISLAND PUBLIC DOMAIN

10m

20m

40m

PHASE 3: GIVING THE HARBOUR BACK | Recycled sea walls

PHASE 3: INUNDATED ENERGY | A Shared view of Land Sea and Sky

NEW PEDESTRI- DIVERSE AND ACAN ACCESS FROM TIVATED PUBLIC GLEBE BRIDGE SPACE

LIVING SEA WALLS IMPROVING WATER QUALITY

GRASSES

Viola banksii

oplismenus imbecillis

SMALL TREES

Carex appressa

Themeda australis

LARGE TREES

Glochidion ferdinandi

Acacia irrorata

allocasuarina littoralis

eucalyptus robusta

melaluca decora

PHASE 3: INUNDATED ENERGY | Wet Forest Native Edge Planting

GROUND COVER

PUBLIC OPEN SPACE

PLANTING

ACTIVE SPACE

SITE STRUCTURE | Open space

COAL GARDEN PHYTOREMEDIATION GARDEN

EDGE PLANTING

25 50

100

PUBLIC POOL

SKATE PARK

200

TENNIS AND BASKETBALL COURTS

ROADS

PEDESTRIAN

SHARED AND SEPARATED CYCLEWAY

SITE STRUCTURE | Circulation

25 50 100 200

INDUSTRIAL

PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND MIXED USE

RESIDENTIAL

SITE STRUCTURE | Land use

25 50

WHITE BAY POWER STATION

METRO

EXISTING WAREHOUSES

100

200

EXISTING WORKINGSTREET ACTIVATED DOCK WITH BARS AND RESTARUNTS

EXISTING WORKING DOCK

References

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