Sydney architecture firm Super Colossal has been awarded first place in the Gold Coast Cultural and Civic Precinct Masterplan ideas competition.
The masterplan situates new facilities for the Gold Coast Council, including a performing arts centre, visual arts and heritage centre, cinema complex, restaurants, city council accommodation, significant parklands and an integrated pedestrian and bicycle network for the city.
Super Colossal’s winning proposal wraps the perimeter of a floating island in a “scalloped, glazed curtain” that will glow at night. The radiant island will act as a “beacon”, alerting people to the depth of activity within, the architects said.
The spaces carved from the interior of the island by the bridges and public spaces will be lined in stone, with large openings into the cultural and civic facilities.
Super Colossal’s winning proposal creates a “new urban type” while also recalling the ancient islands in the Laguna Veneta, such as the Isola Murano and Isola San Michele, the judges said.
The jury report said: “The winning scheme proposes a civic square, located at the heart of the ‘Island of Culture’ envisaged as a grand outdoor place with a central address at the intersection of three bridging pathways that reach out from the island to the community.”
The masterplan will help accommodate some of the 400,000 extra people predicted to settle in Australia's sixth largest city by 2030.
The 16.5 hectare site is located at 135 Bundall Road and is bordered on three sides by rivers and canals. Formerly a simple rural cane farm, the site is now at the heart of a growing city with views across the skyline of Surfers Paradise, Main Beach and Broadbeach.
