New South Wales Sites
Sydney
Olympic Park, Homebush Bay, Sydney
article published Landscape Australia no 22 (3- 2000)
The Northern Water Feature
Glenn Allen
Embodying the Olympic Coordination Authority's commitment to the environment, Hargreaves Associates' Northern Water Feature is a key component of the Master Concept Design's Blue Move. The Blue Move, one of the central 'place-making' gestures of the Master Concept Design, uses water as an ordering element of the urban fabric while graphically illustrating the principles of sustainable design.
Here at the northern end of Olympic Plaza, a dramatic series of granite terraces cascade down from the Plaza to meet a newly created wetland at Haslams Creek. An ecologically based water-reclamation feature, the Northern Water Feature receives the stormwater runoff from the urban core of Homebush Bay, cleanses it in a series of wetland 'finger ponds', and recycles the water into the OCAS overall water cycle system.
The design is boldly heraldic, meant to invoke ongoing memories of the Olympic event. Three tiers of arcing jets plunge in twelve-metre sprays down from Olympic Plaza to the wetland below, making a dynamic and evocative symbol that celebrates the water cycle at Homebush Bay, a vivid image for the site and a torch to carry the legacy for future generations.
Built on top of a previously closed and capped landfill, the construction of the water feature, including its wetland ponds, involved re-opening the landfill, moving 60 000 cubic metres of the landfill material, and completely reconfiguring the shape of the land. The extensive earthworks created the dominant pyramidal landlorm to the north-west, and included recapping of the whole to accept the new wetland system and fountain and a revitalised habitat for the endangered Green and Golden Bell Frog (Liioi is canna).
The carefully configured wetland ponds are grounded in precise hydraulic and environmental engineering to ensure the proper water volume, surface area, retention and detention capacities, and water flow characteristics for optimum plant community health and system performance.
A one hundred and twelve-metre-long observation pier stretches out from Olympic Plaza over the wetland, gesturing out along the boulevard's axis toward the Olympic Village in the north. Its steel structure allows for viewing down into the wetland and incorporates Osmosis, an artwork by An Purhonen that allows viewers to symbolically experience the cleansing of the site's waters below.
1 Pier at Northern Water Feature with Osmosis by Ari Purhonen.
2 & 3 & 4 Northern Water Feature.
All photos courtesy: Hargreaves Associates; all photos by: John Gollings.
Client
Olympic Co-ordination Authority
Landscape Architects: Hargreaves Associates, with Gavin McMillan, Anton James Shaffer Barnsley.
