Image Credit : Simon Wood Photography for all images
Project Overview
The ‘Mount Druitt Pavilion and Public Domain’ is a significant public investment in the Mount Druitt Town Centre and boldly illustrates a new direction for the rapidly densifying area. The brief for the project developed from the outcomes of an extensive community consultation process undertaken by the Council and UTS, gathering input from local users. The project features a pavilion canopy to provide shade, a permanent stage for events and performance, a new playground, a group table for social gathering and individual seating located adjacent to the Mount Druitt library. The project is not solely about providing shade and activity, but rather acts a frame, a home, a protector, a safe space, a marker, a creative platform and a focal point for community life.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Architect
CHROFI
Contractor
Fleetwood Urban
Landscape Architect
JMD Design
Project Brief
Mount Druitt Town Square addresses a range of physical and social constraints, with issues of public amenities, ill-defined and inactive edges, limited passive surveillance, and aged community infrastructure which have led to localised safety issues. Despite this and the impact of urban heat, the site is busy with a schedule of performances and community events throughout the year. The design team aimed to address these issues and produce a physical declaration of a brighter future for Mount Druitt.
Against the backdrop of rapid redevelopment and a growing sense of pride in the local community, the response is the first step in a series of larger projects planned to provide spaces for the community. Hoping to make a splash, the project has a youthful, playful and brash character. Inspired by the emergence of local musical talent and the grassroots impulse of the local community to change the negative reputation perpetuated through the media. The vision is to reflect and encourage the passion and diversity of Mount Druitt by responding to the many users’ needs with landscaped 'scenes' under the canopy. The shape of the landscape dynamically mimics the canopy above and works as a cohesive whole whilst providing separation between non-complementary uses.
Project Innovation/Need
The challenges of the site called for an innovative response that would result in a place for celebrating culture. There is excitement about the structure’s completely organic shape as it snakes around existing and new trees, changing with every new angle. Innovation is in the process of translating deliberate imperfections in initial hand sketches was deliberately translated into shop drawings and steel structures to communicate a softness and approachable character. The pavilion is wrapped in colourful rope, providing shade, vibrancy, and texture whilst making it attractive for families.
The communal act of weaving is shared between diverse cultures and traditions around the world. The use of rope is an innovation that requires research, prototyping, unique construction processes and special procurement strategies. The pattern of the rope references screen-printed artwork by Garage Graphix Community Art Inc. produced in Mount Druitt in the 80s and 90s, which incorporated an astonishing explosion of energies, ideas, and images – a fitting homage in a time of great change.
Design Challenge
The Mount Druitt Town Centre was designed in the 1970’s as the state’s first entirely new town centre planned and developed on greenfield land to support a high concentration of social housing in the surrounding suburbs. Today we see the centre has fallen short in its ambition to provide a modern utopia with “pleasantly landscaped pedestrian open space surrounded by shops, offices, and community building”. The project boldly illustrates a new direction for investment in Mount Druitt. The brief was formed from a grass roots community consultation process to address key issues with a small-scale intervention.
Sustainability
The project addresses the challenges of Urban Heat and aids in social sustainability. Today, the local community is one of the most disadvantaged in NSW, with high levels of unemployment and educational attainment. The project delivers a high-quality public infrastructure the people of Mount Druitt deserve.
The project directly responds to evidence from:
- Dawson Mall Urban Heat Modelling project (UNSW & Blacktown City Council)
- The outcomes of the Mount Druitt Placemakers project (UTS) included participatory design, tactical urbanism, youth development, and critical reflexivity.
- Community Engagement Data Book (Blacktown City Council) referencing crime, alcohol & drug use and anti-social behaviour that have given the square a bad reputation. The report called for more social inclusion through initiatives that celebrate diversity and promote harmony in our community. Once we understood the history, the scale of the challenge and the unfortunate privatisation of the edges of the open space, we refocused our project on a work of architecture with potency at the centre of the square.
Architecture - Public Realm
This award celebrates the design process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. Consideration given for material selection, technology, light and shadow.
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