Quay Quarter Lanes
ASPECT Studios have devised a porous city precinct that layers different kinds of public activity in Sydney’s Quay Quarter. The precinct is a sequence of places connected through a habitable, pedestrian-focused public domain. The project as a whole transforms the existing streets and laneways by adding new fine-grain connections of through-site links and arcades to create a network of delightful and discoverable public places.
By enlivening the streets through this careful design, ASPECT Studios are creating a cohesive precinct where people can work, live and play in the CBD. The Quay Quarter Lanes create new platforms for public activity that respond to and amplify the highly articulated street addresses of the new city buildings.
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- Traditional owners & ongoing custodians of the land The Gadigal of the Eora Nation
- Client AMP Capital (now Dexus)
- Location Quay Quarter Precinct, Sydney, Australia
- Year 2014 - 2021
Nowhere are these ambitions more clearly embodied than in Loftus Lane, where ASPECT Studios has overseen the transformation of the streetscape. Once a service lane used only by delivery drivers and the odd taxi, ASPECT’s design returned to the laneway to the public by rationalising the vehicular building entries into a single basement entrance – sweeping the cars out of the laneway.
Part of turning this disused street into a public asset involved lavishing attention on small details. Filigree brass elements will weather as time passes, with the changing patina a reminder of how this space belongs to the public. A material palette that references the two sandstone buildings addressing the lane creates a sense of cohesion.
The planting throughout the space is rich and stimulating, and enmeshed within the landscape are artworks by Jonathan Jones, which invite inquiry and reflection on the interplay between the city’s First Nations and colonial heritage.
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- Team ASPECT Studios, SJB, Silvester Fuller, Studio Bright, Carter Williamson, Lippmann Partnership, Jonathan Jones, Barbara Flynn
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AWARDS
2023 IFLA Asia-PACLA Awards; Built Projects: Cultural and Urban Landscape – Awards of Excellence
2023 NSW PIA Awards - Commendation for Great Place
2023 CTBUH Awards - Overall Category Winner for Urban Habitat
2023 CTBUH Awards - Award of Excellence for Urban Habitat
2023 AILA NSW Landscape Architecture Awards: Civic Landscape - Award of Excellence
2022 National AIA Awards; The Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design
2022 NSW AIA Awards; The Lord Mayor’s Prize
2022 NSW AIA Awards; Urban Design - Photography Florian Groehn
