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DARWIN WATERFRONT Masterplan

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Landscape Architects: HASSELL

Location: Stokes Hill Wharf Road, Darwin , Northern Territory

OVERVIEW

Creating a new harbour-front precinct linking the water to the city and revitalising a derelict but historically important former industrial port was the challenge for the new Darwin Waterfront master plan. The master plan builds upon Darwin’s strong cultural heritage, incorporating the site’s historic headland landforms, re-establishing natural vegetation, and acknowledging indigenous associations and past uses.

The master plan extends the street pattern of the city bringing it to the water edge like ‘fingers’ in the harbour. The wharf like planning on the harbour edge refers to the historic uses of the site, whilst allowing wet and dry season breezes to pass deep into the site, creating ventilating ‘vortexes’ between the buildings. The site is connected by public access to the water edge, and is structured around a series of public spaces - most defined by public art. The master plan builds upon Darwin’s strong cultural heritage, incorporating the site’s historic headland landforms, re-establishing natural vegetation, and acknowledging indigenous associations and past uses.

Darwin Waterfront will be the first integrated mixed-class waterfront development in Darwin. It will be a quite different in approach to Darwin’s current waterfront residential developments, such as Cullen Bay, Bayview and Tipperary Waters, where the sites are divided into residential enclaves with small areas given over to retail or public access, and therefore unsuccessful at integrating retail, residential and public space. In these existing estates, residential subdivisions dominate the waterfront with direct access from residential buildings to the water’s edge and privatised marina berths.

Some of the key master plan features include:

Residential apartments that are located above retail developments with visual privacy and acoustic separation;

Absolute and unbroken public access along the foreshore;

Generous open parklands and significant tree planting;

A strong physical connection to the CBD;

Ample private spaces for residents, carefully located so as to not dominate public vistas or the immediate water’s edge; and

Public passages throughout the precinct which allow for privacy and security.

The Darwin Waterfront will evolve into a distinctive mixed use entertainment, cultural and waterside residential precinct, which will enhance the desirability of Darwin as a place to live and visit. Underpinning the success of the development is the Darwin Convention Centre. Collectively, the waterfront development will attract new business and visitors to the city while catering for the needs and aspirations of Darwin residents and Territorians alike.

SPECIAL FACTORS

Heritage

The entire master plan is designed to reflect aspects of the heritage of the site. The forms of the buildings as fingers or wharfs pay homage to the maritime nature of the site and evoke the rich connection between the land and water in this location.

The building forms at Fort Hill and Stokes Hill redefine the original forms of those hills, whilst the position of the buildings at Fort Hill allow for a generous park where Goyder’s original campsite is believed to be located.

The creation of a new public park on the site of Goyder’s original campsite will provide a wonderful community space. It would be possible to interpret the original use of the site by integration of lightweight fabric structures giving the feel of a canvas campsite. These structures could be used to house market sails or other facilities serving the site created in the original saddle between Fort Hill and the escarpment.

A Locked Water Body

A sea wall will be established within the site boundary along the entire length of the waterfront to establish a body of water with controlled tidal variation of approximately 0.5m. Establishing this wall enables the elimination of the mud flats on the existing site. A ‘lock’ will be provided to allow boats to move in and out of this body of water so that there is access to the mooring and marina facilities adjacent to the residential buildings. Within this locked water, a second barrier will be established to isolate the ‘beach’ water. This will keep the water filtered for beach recreation, free of stingers and crocodiles and be available for year round swimming.

Continuous Waterfront Access

The master plan protects the waterfront and retains it for use by the whole community. Continuous foreshore access is enabled by sheltered and shaded boardwalks and walking paths throughout the site. The new sea wall offers another alternative for waterfront access by enabling visitors to walk across the harbour for fishing, jogging and picnicking.

The Darwin Experience

One of centre points of the master plan is the ”Darwin Experience”, A cultural centre at the apex of the beach waterfront, which pays tribute to the important interface between the land and water in this maritime setting. Designed in a ‘tropical wharf’ style, the Darwin Experience encapsulates the atmosphere of the place and setting.

This Darwin Experience will provide locals and visitors with a dramatic experiential experience by bringing to life the history of the area in a visual and high impact fashion, starting with the formation of the Top End, the traditional owners, the affect of European interaction, the impact of WWII, and the devastation of Cyclone Tracy, culminating in a ‘fly around’ over modern day Darwin celebrating the unique culture and atmosphere, and the indomitable spirit and innovation of Darwin.

This central focus will also be the backdrop for performance with a covered stage opening to a magnificent natural amphitheatre. The lobby spaces would contain heritage trail information and there is the possibility of small ‘found’ artefacts being displayed in this area.

BUDGET

More than 86% of the master plan development will be funded by private sector developers ($900 million) to develop the hotels, restaurants and apartments. This was leveraged from Government’s investment ($149 million) which has delivered the Darwin Convention Centre, Wave lagoon and other community infrastructure elements. Combined, more than $1 billion is being invested into the Territory, its future and its people. It is expected full site development will occur over 15 years. The final sunset date for completion of the development is 2020.*(* Source: Darwin Waterfront Corporation Website).

Planning Excellence and Functional Quality

Equitable and unrestricted public access to the harbour foreshore is a critical strategy for the master plan of the Darwin Waterfront. The master plan recognises the unique, truly multi-cultural mix of Darwin residents and visitors. The waterfront development will include dynamic uses and activities that address the rich cultural and social mix and the different needs and aspirations of these various resident and visitor groups. Underpinning these activities will be an urban structure which permits continuous public access to the waterfront at all points within the development and that connects into public open spaces beyond the site.

The master plan proposes a mix of complementary land uses that will satisfy the needs of different user groups. The intention is to encourage a ‘round the clock’ population of residents, workers and visitors that will invigorate this new precinct of the city. The master plan proposes a mixed-use public domain precinct at the core of the development with residential precincts at the periphery. It is also envisaged that the outer harbour will also become more usable for a wider range of boating, fishing, tourism recreational, leisure and relaxation based activities.

The Darwin Convention and Exhibition Centre is visually connected to the balance of the site. There is also a continuous boardwalk promoting public access that connects the Darwin Convention and Exhibition Centre with the site for pedestrian promenading. The boardwalk will be a continuous element meandering its way around the perimeter of the public domain providing and promoting full and unfettered public access.

The apartment hotel complex to the west of the Darwin Convention and Exhibition Centre will be available at all times for convention centre bookings and will act as the preferred hotel for conventions. Priority booking will be made available to the demands of the Darwin Convention and Exhibition Centre and at other times the apartment hotel’s inventory will be made available for general accommodation bookings. Throughout the ground level spaces of the other Stage 1 development proposals there will be several opportunities for restaurants and retail for both Darwin Convention and Exhibition Centre use and for the benefit of the visiting public.

The master plan set simple and critically important principles for:

Uninterrupted public access to the water’s edge;

Truly democratic public open space as a focus for the precinct;

Active ground floor uses and a positive relationship between the public domain and the private domain;

A mix of uses both vertically within buildings but also horizontally between buildings; and

The retention of the escarpment as a green backdrop to the project.

Addressing the Australian Landscape Principles

Value our Landscape

Perched on the edge of the stunning Darwin harbour the waterfront embraces is dramatic setting in every way. The development embraces the stunning existing harbour views and, by celebrating this unique context draws together a truly integrated development. The master plan builds upon Darwin’s strong cultural heritage, incorporating the site’s historic headland landforms, re-establishing natural vegetation, and acknowledging indigenous associations and past uses.

Protect, Enhance, Regenerate

The master plan transforms a once degraded industrial site into new exciting uses that are underpinned by a series of robust and sustainable strategies.In addition all of the key master plan defining principles a number of important strategies have been developed to identify, protect and re instate significant existing vegetation and several sites of unique heritage value that combined, depict a rich and unique past.

Design With Respect

The history of this important site includes the original occupation by the Indigenous population, their encounter with travellers from Asia, their first encounter with European travellers and the development of European occupation in the area, the industrial heritage of the site, and significant events including WWII and Cyclone Tracy. A significant art and interpretive overlay pays respect to this unique and significant history.

Design For The Future

The Darwin Waterfront development presents an opportunity to think strategically about the future urban form of the city. Darwin’s important green assets – The Botanic Gardens, Mindil beach, The Esplanade, Lameroo Beach and Charles Darwin National Park – may be seen as a continuous link of parks that are aligned with the new development. The Darwin Waterfront sets a positive precedent for future waterfront development in the other degraded industrial sites to the north.

Embrace Responsive Design

The urban grain of central Darwin is contrasted by the landscape setting and greenery of the adjacent civic precinct and escarpment. The building forms are linear and slender and are set in generous parklands. This allows the buildings maximum benefit from cooling cross winds and maintains the escarpment to read as a vegetated backdrop to o the development.

Relevance to the Profession of Landscape Architecture, the Public, and the Education of Future Practitioners

The preparation of the master plan included a combination of specialist urban design, landscape architectural, architectural, planning and artistic consultants to so that all of the visions and principles of the master plan were realised. In this way the development of the master plan was a truly collaborative process. The refinement of each of its components lead to the creation of new innovative and robust design solutions, many of the design strategies and principles that were developed by the design team will help lead the thinking and inspire precedents for other similar project related challenges.

Because of the significant nature of the public domain component of the master plan the development was able to be crafted around strong landscape architectural principles. These principles were used to drive many of the broader master plan development strategies to help define a solution that completely integrated the built form and the landscape within the dramatic harbour side setting.

Environmental Responsibility and Sustainability

The master plan of the Darwin Waterfront was underpinned by a series of sustainable initiatives and technologies, each driven to provide lasting solutions with social, economic and environmental benefits.

Passive Climate Control

In the tropical region of the NT the sun is orientated high and to the north more often than low and to the east or west. Climatic factors influencing regional design include wet season winds from the north east and dry season winds from the south west. The master plan was developed on a layout that funnels those winds through the spaces between the built form, drawing ventilation through the narrow footprints by the resultant pressure differential.

For those building that demand the characteristics of quick response habitation, including the developments various restaurants, will be designed with a lightweight construction of opening louvers and roof ceiling fans which, where necessary, will be supported by smaller, energy efficient, packaged air conditioners. In all of the proposed buildings the eastern and western sun is modulated by sliding shutters to provide additional climate control.

Plant Species Selection

The Darwin Waterfront promotes biodiversity and supports local ecosystems by using locally occurring plant material that provides habitat for local fauna and extends existing patterns of native vegetation. In addition the planting was selected using the following principles.

Using a range of plants that have low water requirements for the long dry seasons;

Using broad spreading canopy trees for the provision of shade and weather protection;

Source plant material by using local nurseries to supply plants under a “contract grow” arrangement; and

Reducing the need for intensive maintenance thus reducing using machinery powered by fossil fuels and excessive chemicals.

Shade and Weather Protection

A weave of walkway canopies knits all of the buildings together to provide year round access. A continuous canopy structure affords pedestrian protection from the heat of the sun and shelter from the weather during the wet season and also, through the Smith Street Connection, strengthens the connection to the CBD. Individual shade structures are interspersed within the parklands to provide the opportunity for permanent shade and shelter year round

Water Sensitive Urban Design

The master plan was developed to include initiatives including water conservation and re-use, identification of opportunities for solar power generation, passive ventilation and temperature control and opportunities for a centralised generation of power.

A Liveable Development

Darwin Waterfront will be a liveable, vibrant and positive precinct in all respects, basedThe Darwin Waterfront master plan has embraced the relaxed mood of a multicultural tropical city. The parklands are edged by a diversity of uses that are active during both day and night, people feel safe in this environment.Another important social benefit of the Darwin Waterfront comes from the rich public art and heritage interpretation programs which animate the public spaces and give greater richness to the experience of using the precinct.

introduction / overview / images  /  location   /  Projects

2010