MEDIATION
:: stephen pratt
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It is a place where a number of passages, uses and histories intersect. Some are the legacy of the time when Sydney Harbour dissolved here into reeds and mangroves and others are from a time after, when the marsh gave way to concrete and steel. It is a place where the traces of the city’s early romance with heavy industry and her hurried response to sanitation were laid bare; here in this swampy breach between Pyrmont and Glebe.
It emerges gradually above the foreshore, all bones, arteries and organs. The ground plane is an elastic skin that selectively encloses and exposes the functional zones beneath. A central spine begins at the west with an entry plaza and supports the building’s internal circulation route and various technical spaces before terminating at the east with three production studios. A structural latticework highlights the edge and embraces the refurbished coal loader. North of the water’s edge, a fl oating offi ce and support building addresses the harbour through layers of void, personal and meeting spaces, glass and perforated copper screens. The building breathes through a web of ductwork, like a beast steadily inhaling and exhaling, mediating past and present, storm-water and sea water, earth and harbour, the natural and the artificial.
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