Central Park design competition
Two winning design submissions are expected to be announced next week for the residential and commercial development Central Park in Sydney’s CBD.
Six architectural firms were invited to submit designs for Block 8 and Block 11 of Central Park by Frasers Property Australia in Chippendale.
Block 11 will have 320 apartments across nine to 14 storeys. Townhouses and a childcare centre may also be added.
Block 8 will be a 180 apartment building of eight to 14 storeys.
The competition was a part of Central Park’s modified concept plan in an endeavour to ensure consistent design excellence across the precinct.
Central Park joins a number of other high-profile developments to be constructed by designs procured by competition including James Packer's Crown Hotel Sydney at Barangaroo, a new cultural precinct in Evandale on the Gold Coast, Flinders Street Station in Melbourne’s CBD and Monash University’s $150 million law, business and economics complex in Melbourne’s south-east.
More developers may be realising the advantages of this process, said Ross Clark, chief operating officer of the Australian Institute of Architects.
“It’s perhaps that developers are increasingly understanding where their project has a public profile or a community element to it that engaging in a competitive process has benefits in it,” he said.
A number of submissions can be helpful for developers who are unsure of what they want as a opposed to working alongside an architect to create a brief for the structure but this doesn’t necessarily mean a better quality design.
“What ought to be improved is the developer or client’s alignment with that design because they get to choose from the designs, especially if they’re not clear with what they want,” said Clark.
However, choosing an architect on their design alone isn’t failsafe as the winner could have difficulty in other areas of the process such as working with builders or construction, said Clark.
“It’s both less risky and more risky...if you commit to a competition depending on how it’s structured, you have to take the team that wins the competition,” he said.
Three of the architecture firms invited to compete have previously worked with Frasers. PTW Architects and Smart Design Studios worked with Frasers on One Central Park and Nettletontribe designed the proposed student residences on Abercrombie Stret.
Bates Smart, Tony Caro Architectural and Richard Francis-Jones, who have had no previous business with Frasers, were also invited to submit designs.
The successful designs will have to be unique but also comply with environmental standards, said a spokesperson for Frasers Property Australia.
“We're looking for interesting, original architecture which is complimentary to the Central Park precinct...The winning designs also need to comply with the modified concept plan approval for height, mass and GFA, and achieve a minimum 5 green stars under the Green Building Society of Australia's rating tool - as is the case for all buildings at Central Park (for which a rating tool exists).”
The two winning designs will be developed for state significance development applications to go to the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure in September.
