Client ::
- Sydney Cove Authority
Location ::
- The Rocks, Sydney, NSW
Completed ::
- 1994
Team ::
- Peter Tonkin, Andrew Nimmo, Tim Greer, Julie Mackenzie. Photos by Farshid Assassi
Awards ::
- 1994 RAIA National Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design 1994 NSW Chapter Merit Award for Urban Design 1994 Boral Award for Excellence in Timber
Project Description::
The Rocks Square unites three underused buildings as a two level boutique retail centre focused on a new urban square, below four residential apartments. It is located in the heart of The Rocks – Sydney’s leading tourist and heritage precinct, and accommodates 60 specialist retail shops and cafes.
The conservation and refurbishment of the 1918 Penrhyn House, and the reconstruction of the adjoining 1970s car park into a mixed-use facility created a civic focus for The Rocks. New facades, deeply modelled and carefully-articulated, envelop the 1970s building, and relate to adjoining large-scale Colonial and Victorian warehouses. Both levels have multiple entrances from the surrounding streets and lanes. A new glass-roofed portico provides a major covered public gallery facing onto the Square.
Detailed urban design analysis of the surrounding environment was required o ensure the new work complimented Sydney’s ‘Historic Village’. These investigations influenced the design of new colonnades and the square itself, as well as the upgrading of the surrounding streets.
Materials were selected to match the stone, brick and render of the neighbouring Victorian residential and warehouse buildings, and have been left unfinished where possible. Face brick matches the colour of the convict-made sandstock bricks, and sandstone is used as paving and for walls to the public spaces. The interior is defined with expressive hardwood detailing and purpose-designed light fittings.
