Hobart Waterfront
In collaboration w/ Lagé Architecture. 2007
The remoteness of Tasmania has afforded it protection from over-development, making the island a place of pristine natural landscapes. In the past, the capital city of Hobart was a commercial entry point to Tasmania, as well as a departure point for scientific journeys to the Antarctic. Sullivan’s cove was the most important harbor of Hobart, and therefore the center if it’s activity and civic life.
As time has passed, the city’s activities and institutions have retreated inside buildings and the common public space of the waterfront has become less important as an entry point for Tasmania. The large outdoor spaces scaled to accommodate the masses surrounding the activities of the port have now been given over to cars. The important buildings that remain on the site now exist more as a isolated historical objects than an active center. While the car has provided new ways of arriving at the site, the large areas of asphalt have also made pedestrian connections difficult. We proposed that the future of Sullivan’s Cove is as a new kind of pier for connecting the urban space of Hobart with the natural landscape of Tasmania. Rather than try to infill the emptiness on the site, we decided to break it down into public spaces that were of a useful scale.
The Urban Pier consolidates movement through the site into a spine that also defines the new public space; each one associated with a building. In this way, the whole site is simultaneously joined and divided by the spine, uniting the individual buildings while breaking down the public space to the human scale. The slightly raised Urban Pier also acts as a speedbump, slowing traffic as it passes through the site and encouraging motorists to stop at Sullivan’s Cove rather than just pass by. The project leverages the many types and scales of movement on the site, embracing their complexity and potential rather than try to eliminate them. Through organizing and densifying the activities of the present, the historical activity of Sullivan’s cove can be reawakened.
