An Urban Park For Ryde

Ryde, Australia

2016

In conventional practices, it is common to observe architectural solutions that devise ‘efficient’ use of space by compromising aspects such as daylight, views, and open spaces that are essential in the creation of high-quality spatial experiences. This critical reflection serves as a point of departure for the design concept which explores ways of maximizing viewpoints, courtyards, and pedestrian accessibility for the proposal while creating spatial optimization through the assembly of functional objectives in relation to their public and private requirements. The discrete architectural volumes are positioned on the site carefully as a result of various studies conducted on solar analysis, shadow analysis, wind analysis, and energy concepts which together contribute to the environmental performance of the proposal. As accessibility to the site and the generation of pedestrian flows from different parts of the city serve as major design goals, the volumes are raised and the building footprints are minimized. In this way, the ground level of the Reef becomes a lively urban park enriched with commercial and cultural activities (art gallery, gym) that currently do not exist around the site location.