Green Square competition shortlist
Felix Laboratories’ (Fremantle) shortlisted proposal for Green Square Library and Plaza.
Section of Felix Laboratories’ (Fremantle) proposed library building.
Felix Laboratories’ (Fremantle) proposed library and plaza uses vegetation, children’s playground, outdoor reading room and water features throughout the site.
Green Square Library and Plaza site plan for the shortlisted design by Stewart Hollenstein in association with Colin Stewart Architects (Sydney).
Stewart Hollenstein in association with Colin Stewart Architects proposes an urban living room with activities across a field of indoor and outdoor spaces and a sunken garden.
John Wardle Architects’ proposed library and plaza viewed from Botany Road.
John Wardle Architects’ proposed library building viewed from Neilson Square.
Julian Flannery’s proposed performance porch, with canopied community space and children’s soft play surface.
JPE Design Studio (Adelaide) proposes community gathering points in an outdoor plaza with terraced water features, and public nodes within the library.
The library entrance in JPE’s shortlisted design for Green Square.
The Green Square Library and Plaza, on the southern fringe of Sydney, is one step closer to being realized.
Five finalists have been shortlisted from 167 entries in the City of Sydney’s international design competition for the Green Square Library and Plaza project.
The project is planned as the cultural centrepiece of the Green Square precinct, earmarked for $8 billion in commercial and retail redevelopment. This rapidly growing area on the city’s southern fringe is expected to accommodate an additional forty thousand residents and twenty thousand workers in the next few years.
The five finalists are Stewart Hollenstein in association with Colin Stewart Architects (Sydney); JPE Design Studio (Adelaide); John Wardle Architects (Melbourne); Flannery & de la Pole (London); and Felix Laboratories (Fremantle).
The jury comprises architects John Denton (jury chair), Glenn Murcutt AO and Rachel Neeson, American landscape architect George Hargreaves (landscape master plan designer for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games), Sharan Harvey (Brisbane City Council Library Services Manager), and Stuart McCreery (engineering and public building adviser).
City of Sydney is expected to announce the winning design in early 2013. Here’s a snapshot of the shortlisted proposals, with images in the slideshow above.
Stewart Hollenstein in association with Colin Stewart Architects (Sydney) proposes an urban living room with activities distributed across a field of indoor and outdoor spaces, and a sunken recreational garden.
JPE Design Studio (Adelaide) proposes community gathering points in a plaza with terraced outdoor water features and public nodes within the library.
John Wardle Architects (Melbourne) proposes a gentle arc-shaped design with an amphitheatre, treetop reading spaces, an outdoor room with a stream, bio-retention elements and indigenous trees, plus a library with an atrium.
Flannery & de la Pole (London) proposes a library with high thermal mass and natural ventilation in which public facilities are concentrated on a tall and transparent entrance level. Outside areas include a long performance porch, a canopied community space and children’s soft play surface.
Felix Laboratories (Fremantle) proposes rolling landforms planted with local vegetation, establishing a Sydney landscape of architectural forms including the library and playground, outdoor reading room and game space with water sculptures and a stream traversing the site.
