Frasers Property Australia (Frasers) has invited six Australian architecture practices to submit designs for the final two sites of its $2 billion Central Park mixed-use project in Chippendale, Sydney.
Tony Caro Architecture, Nettletontribe and Smart Design Studio were approached to design Block 8, which is located on the corner of Abercrombie and O’Conner Streets in Chippendale. This block is part of Frasers’ joint venture with Sekisui House, and directly faces onto the Chippendale Green.
Richard Francis-Jones, Bates Smart and PTW Architects were also invited to submit their plans for Block 11, which is a long building containing approximately 320 apartments stretched along Wellington Street. A child care centre will be included within this stage, and the possibility of townhouse-style strata residences facing Chippendale Green are likely to be considered.
Master planned by Foster + Partners, Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Johnson Pilton Walker, this design competition was a requirement under the 2009 modified concept plan approval for Central Park, created to ensure continued design excellence within the 5.8 hectare precinct.
Members of the Design Review Panel include Frasers’ CEO Guy Pahor and Lucy Turnbull. Turnbull is an independent member of the Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority, which oversees the urban renewal and revitalisation of several precincts in Sydney, including Redfern-Waterloo.
Former NSW Government Architect and former Executive Director at the NSW Department of Planning Chris Johnson is also part of the panel. Johnson is now Chief Executive of the Urban Taskforce, and has extensive experience planning and delivering major projects.
The precincts' other design teams consist of the following collaborators:
• Masterplanning: Lead by Foster + Partners (UK), in partnership with Johnson Pilton Walker (Aust) and Ateliers Jean Nouvel (France).
• Main park and public domain: Jeppe Aagaard Andersen (Denmark) and Turf Design (Aust).
• ‘One Central Park’ and ‘Central’: Ateliers Jean Nouvel and PTW Architects (Aust). Landscape architects ASPECT | OCULUS, with artist/botanist Patrick Blanc (France), lighting artist Yanne Kersale (France). Interiors by Koichi Takada Architects and Smart Design Studio.
• ‘Park Lane’: Johnson Pilton Walker.
• ‘The Mark’ : Johnson Pilton Walker.
• Commercial campus: Foster + Partners with PTW Architects.
• Block 4S student residences: Foster + Partners with Nettletontribe (Aust).
• Brewery Yard precinct: Tzannes Associates (Aust).
• Kensington Street precinct: Tonkin Zulaikha Greer (Aust).
• Public art consultant: Barbara Flynn, with Turpin + Crawford Studio.