The design proposal submitted by Cox Architecture for a new stadium at Moore Park, Sydney has been named the winner of the competition. The new stadium will come up on the site of the existing Allianz stadium, adjacent to the Sydney Cricket Ground.
According to Sports Minister Stuart Ayres, the design will create "a colosseum of sound and colour" that will "set the standard for rectangular stadiums in Australia… from technology and design to amazing views, it's nothing short of world class”.
Cox Architecture’s vision for the new stadium takes a planning and design approach intended to strengthen Sydney’s status as a venue for major national sports and entertainment events while simultaneously creating a public precinct for year-round use by the wider community. The ‘outside-in’ design approach will integrate the striking natural environment. Significantly, Cox’s design will create an active events platform, featuring a series of distinct, purpose-specific settings for event patrons and the general public.
The stadium’s sculptural ribbon façade blends the best aspects of technology, engineering and art. The crafted façade has been designed from the ‘outside-in’ allowing it to change materiality in direct response to its immediate context.
The sensitively crafted, elegant lightweight roof structure features an environmentally-aware design, which not only requires 40 percent less steel to construct but also significantly reduces its profile on its historically sensitive northern and southern ends. Solar panels and water harvesting solutions will be integrated into the roof to ensure superior recycling and energy reclamation.
Patrick Ness, executive chair of Cox Architecture:
"The State and the reference design set rigorous targets for any new scheme to achieve, recognising the location and enduring memories that the existing Sydney Football Stadium represents. Despite this daunting task, I’m proud to say that our team has risen to the challenge and in many cases actually surpasses the exacting objectives set out in the brief; we’ve proposed something with more community value, more experience for teams and fans, and with better connection to surrounding parkland and amenity. It is something that is simultaneously sculptural and highly functional. It is lighter, kinder to the environment and more self-sufficient as a structure than any other major stadium in Australia. It is a fitting continuation of what it replaces.”
Design director, Pete Sullivan:
“Creating something that both ‘fits in yet stands out’ in that part of Sydney is obviously a tough ask for any design team, as is the task of creating a piece of seven-day civic infrastructure that provides superior amenity and services to multiple specialist and public groups. More than this, these services must be provided in a way that doesn’t detract from what a stadium needs to do well; provide a superior platform for sports and events spectacle for teams, performers and fans. And of course, there was the added responsibility to craft a form, which progresses the elegance, balance and recognition of Philip Cox’s original design.”
