The project’s key feature is a 89x112-foot perforated canopy that defines the rectangular perimeter of the public plaza and is suspended from a series of trusses supported by a singular steel column. A collaboration between architect Adjaye Associates and Daniel Boyd, a renowned contemporary artist of Kudjla/Gangalu Aboriginal descent, the canopy shelters and unites the community building and plaza under a poetic layer of light and dark, solid and void. Boyd’s artwork is experienced as a cosmic journey of light that filters and refracts sunlight through multiple, randomly scattered, circular, mirror-lined openings.

The plaza features paving with circular detailing that echoes the canopy above and a zone of seating with custom granite “pebbles.” Beneath the public plaza is Sydney’s first public cycling facility, with capacity for 200 bikes and changing facilities. The community building itself accommodates a wide range of uses across 12,000 square feet, and will evolve over time based on the needs of the local community. Wrapped in a reduced, utilitarian steel form, its distinctive pitched roof refers to the primary silhouette of early settlers’ houses.

Flexible interiors including an open plan gallery and indoor-outdoor viewing platform are defined by a warm, inviting timber material palette. The result is a hybrid form that merges Aboriginal origins with the legacy of early settlers and the industrial materiality and language of the nearby harbor.