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[Union] :: Newtown Cultural Centre

Part 1 Project 2005
Joshua Morrin
 University of Sydney | Australia
Often the beginning of a student project is to start with a blank canvas, a sort of attitude which says: ‘pretend as though there is nothing there’. This project contends that this is not necessarily the case – that no matter what the site, program etc., there is an underlying geometry – a hidden order, as it were – that will govern the projection and emergence of the building from this blank canvas.

This project is presented in a way which mirrors the post-product, reflective thought process of how this geometry emerged and fused together with the program, social and cultural structures to result in a building which is place-specific, exploratory, and contextually unifying.



Joshua Morrin’s bold urban design and architectural solution is an outstanding response to a class brief for a small public building. A sculpted ground plane at the triangular corner of the difficult inner-city site links through a softly-landscaped sunken garden to the public part of the program housed in a simple three-storey box reflecting the foreground sculpture. The strength of this solution lies in the architectural skill and originality of its inspired interpretation of program and site as cultural centre, engaging an inner city community through offering a spatial banquet of places providing play, respite, delight, programmatic clarity and robustly appropriate materiality.
2005
Building on the brief as given, the design for [UNION] : Newtown Cultural Centre explores the possibility that for any given site, there is an underlying geometry which provides the framework for the weaving together of built form.
The site defines the doorway between two ‘rooms’ that lie on the national road route 1, at the boundary between the University of Sydney and its neighbouring suburb, Newtown. The site has a critical function as a counterpoint between these two communities
The site is predominantly formed by the very particular geometry of two principal planes. The dominant geometry of the two principal planes resonates across the surface of the site, meeting to reveal a geometry that is place-specific.
A full construction of the grid reveals infinite possibilities of scaling; a single parameter – the standard 1000mm length – is introduced, and a defined set of co-ordinates established.
Consideration of the cultural context disrupts the harmony of the abstract condition. The differences between the communities, meeting at this site, push against each other, deforming the grid and creating conditions of disharmony and discontinuity.
The green slice is about separation. The forces of culture are allowed to interact peacefully across this green air-space. The boundary region is no longer a hostile place. It is now a place of safety, of comfort between the two masses.
The bridge forms a new link between the University and the community, physically and symbolically. The same fundamental ground plane, presently distorted from its natural order, is reinstated as the common ground weaving the fabric of the context together
This same ground plane sculpturally represents the existing situation as the surface fabric is distorted and folded, according to the embedded geometric profile. The residual spaces beneath this ‘blanket’ enable the insertion of the programmatic elements.
A simple, clear path of circulation winds downward through the building, constantly weaving the experience of the user between artwork and glimpses of the central, unifying green space.
In and around the garden – composed of local flora – sculptural works are displayed, but the primary function of the green slice is as an oasis from the summer heat and the intensity of traffic and movement at street level.
The public element of the program – the community cultural centre – is located above ground. Within this small building, spaces are treated simply, rather than elaborately, to provide flexibility of use, as demanded by the program as developed.
At the upper level, the library is located. Lighting is controlled by a series of screens, excluding northern sunlight and permitting southern daylighting. Views to the surrounds are provided from the platform quality of the floor plan.
The defining nature of the green slice is observable throughout the site, provoking a variety of experiences, and is a constant reminder of the prior fragility of the relationship between two opposing, yet neighbouring, communities.
Consolidating the public program at the rear of the site, the building steps away from the corner, leaving the sculptural paved element of the foreground beyond the treetops. A single strong volume presents itself directly to the street axis.
The embedded geometric confines of the site – its genetic structure –are observable whatever the experience of the building. The materiality of the building – raw, robust, yet refined – appropriately reflects this approach.
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