Our proposal for Parramatta Square Stage 5 & 6 was a little tongue in cheek and provided a great opportunity to test some ideas we have been researching lately. We presented a photo-collage referencing a number of iconic buildings within the context of Parramatta Square. Here is an excerpt from our competition submission.
ORDER AND DECORUM
We wish to bring order back to civic space. Taking references from history and post-modern discourse, classical ideas inform the contemporary skyscraper. The design is an exercise in reinterpretation, not imitation.
URBAN EDGES
The northern edge of Parramatta Square is orthogonal. Parramatta Town Hall, the new Parramatta Council (Stages 3 & 4) and Stage 1 buildings provide a strong anchor to the new urban space. The southern edge of Parramatta Square is more free. Taking the Sydney Water building as a precedent, Aspire (Stage 2) provides an angled gesture to the square. Our proposal for the Stage 5 & 6 podium is freeform in relation to the square like its neighbours, and defines soft edges between the hard boundary of the elevated railway along Darcy Street and the orthogonal facades of the northern edge of the square.
TWO TOWERS UNITED
United at the base and again at the crown, the two towers merge below to create an elevated commercial podium that introduces permeable arcades and opportunities for market stalls, while above the towers merge again to create larger leasable floor plates and eliminates a lift core.
