The New South Wales government has released a design for the public outdoor areas of the Harbourside Shopping Centre redevelopment in Tumbalong/Darling Harbour.
Designed by Snøhetta and Hassell, the redevelopment proposes to create a range of retail, hospitality and entertainment spaces, as well as a 42-storey residential tower.
The public elements of the project include a series of through-site links, upgrades to the promenade around Cockle Bay and a new waterfront plaza and garden.
The design team has collaborated with cultural design and research consultant Danièle Hromek (Djinjama) and Indigenous planting specialist Clarence Slockee (Jiwah) to embed Wangal and Gadigal ways of thinking and narratives into the design.
The podium of the development has been conceived as a sandstone escarpment that reinterprets the historic landscape of the site.
Waterfront Garden in the Harbourside shopping centre redevelopment by Snøhetta and Hassell.
Image: Snøhetta and Hassell
“Harbourside re-imagines its ‘podium’, as a ‘base’, through which erosions, creeks, and gullies create unique relationships between building components and massing,” the design team said.
The through-site links, including the Waterfront Steps, Bunn Street Steps, Pyrmont Bridge Steps, and Waterfront Garden, are conceived as waterways that erode and mould the sandstone.
The integrated landscape “is driven by the ephemeral qualities of water and delivers an ecologically diverse landscape that transitions down from the sandstone escarpment of Pyrmont, over the ridges and slopes of the base down to the Waterfront Garden and the water’s edge of Cockle Bay.”
Waterfront Promenade in the Harbourside shopping centre redevelopment by Snøhetta and Hassell.
Image: Snøhetta and Hassell
The Waterfront Promenade forms part of the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Walk and Yananurala (Walking on Country), part of the Eora Journey.
Yananurala is a nine-kilometre walk from Woolloomooloo to Pirrama along the Sydney Harbour foreshore that highlights Aboriginal history and culture.
The Waterfront Promenade and Waterfront Garden are designed to be welcoming for people of all ages and abilities and to encourage play.
The Waterfront Garden will offer green spaces with elevated views of Cockle Bay, inspired by colours, textures, materiality and stories of Tumbalong.
The Waterfront Plaza will create a space for pause along the promenade and likewise the Waterfront Steps will offer a passive place to sit and meet.
The designs are on public exhibition on the Department of Planning website until 27 September.
