THE DRYING GREEN AT SYDNEY’S GREEN SQUARE – THE WORLD’S FIRST ECOLOGICAL ENGINE

Abstract

“Beginning in 2006, we worked with the City of Sydney to deliver Australia’s most technologically advanced park, Green Square’s ecological engine, The Drying Green,” said Adrian McGregor, Chief Design Officer and Project Director of McGregor Coxall. This park helps to structure what is becoming one of Australia’s densest planned urban areas.

About the Author

Adrian McGregor, nominated as one of Sydney’s 100 most creative people, is the founder as well as Chief Design Officer at McGregor Coxall, a biolab led urban design, landscape architecture and environment firm located in Australia and the UK. Practicing globally, he is a bio-urbanist, landscape architect and Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra. He is the author of Biourbanism – Cities as Nature..

Preface

Urban design is a four-dimensional art and science. It involves three-dimensional man-made form, built and natural, and takes place over time in its making and as part of the city. The Drying Green, a seemingly isolated space at present, is an innovative urban public space laid down for the future development that is already starting to surround it. It is also designed as part of the green infrastructure network of a much larger urban regeneration zone.  Already, it is being well used by the existing community for leisure and as a connecting space between developments and major public buildings. As well as context, the noteworthy features of its design are discussed in this article. It will be interesting to come back to this project in five years.

Raeburn Chapman, Editor, Urban Design Review

Article

This 6,400m2 urban park is located on First Nation’s Gadigal Country at the heart of Green Square’s urban regeneration zone, which is planned to have the highest population density of a neighbourhood in Australia. Public open space designed according to ecological principles is an imperative in organising the area. The Drying Green is the centrepiece of a network of new public green spaces servicing the growing community.  It is designed to function as a high-performance open space for locals and visitors. The figure shows the winning Site Master Plan prepared by McGregor Coxall with The Drying Green component on the right, Green Square train station on the left and the Library and Civic Place in the middle forming a public spine for the area.

Its design delivers the world’s first ecological engine in the form of an urban wetland that harnesses ‘green’-and-‘blue’ living infrastructure to clean storm water drawn from a concrete channel deep beneath the site, the former Sheas Creek. One-third of an Olympic pool (approximately 875KL) of polluted water is cycled daily through the wetland and returned clean to Alexandria Canal and the harbour downstream, regional in conception.  This makes it Australia’s most technologically advanced park.

In pre-European times the site was an ecologically significant wetland made up of sandy Botany swamps. Over the past hundred years, heavy industries that relied upon fresh water were attracted to the area and eventually, the land was filled. As fell-mongering works and car industries departed, the area was left contaminated. The Drying Green repairs and regenerates this lost ecological connection.

With clean up now complete, The Drying Green is already attracting a return of wildlife to Green Square with birds and insects foraging in the new wetlands, extremely relevant today. “The Drying Green” repairs and regenerates this lost ecological connection. This makes it an urban re-wilding project.

Utilising the principles of origami /1, the park design delivers sculpted lawns, folded gardens, and public amenities set in a forest of native trees. Angular berms utilise green façade technology to provide visual and acoustic separation from busy surrounding streets to the inner park. The park features a large, inclined lawn raised to capture maximum winter sun and is linked to a large BBQ pavilion for summer shade. The southern urban edge of the park features stepped precast concrete seats forming an urban space overlooking the adjacent Green Square library.

 

The Drying Green serves to extend the landscape character of Zetland Avenue and form a place of respite against the contrast of the paved, formal, and multifunctional urban environments of the Green Square Library and plaza. The ‘origami green’ concept proposal folds the topography to form a variety of spatial experiences as well as maximising useable lawn areas, sun exposure and creating a sense of privacy and containment. Buffering of noise and winds from the surroundings is also improved. A tiered arrangement of wetlands treat stormwater and harvest it along Zetland Avenue and Portman Street.

Best practice water sensitive urban design in the project essentially involves detailing of a new cascading wetland across the park, tracing the route of the historic Sheas Creek and its associated wetlands. Flanked by native cabbage tree palms, this living infrastructure cleans urban storm runoff flowing below the park in concrete culverts before, as has been said, diverting it to the Alexandria Canal.

Energy amenities complement a comprehensive underground water management system that irrigates the berms and lawns from below, also cleaning dirty water that washes downhill from Sydney’s CBD. Technology concealed within the origami green structure houses the ecological engine infrastructure. A hidden electrical substation concealed within the sculptural amenities building, designed by CHROFI Architects, powers the library and plaza, connected by electrical infrastructure hidden within The Drying Green’s berms. Photovoltaic energy is also received from the park shelter designed by McGregor Coxall before feeding back into the site’s grid, offsetting the energy required for maintaining the artwork installation – ‘Stream’ – by contemporary Australian artist, Kerri Poliness. Stream was inspired by the ongoing relationship of The Drying Green site to water.

Construction was extremely complex and the attention to detail delivered by Constructors Regal Innovations ensures a streamlined, hi-tech management system for the park now and into the future. Turning full circle, the site will once again contribute to the ecology of the greater Green Square community.

The site location and urban framework were determined by the Green Square Town Centre Masterplan international design competition won by McGregor Coxall + Turner + Arets in 2006. ‘The Drying Green’ name pays homage to a time where the site was used primarily to wash and dry wool. The park opened to the public on Saturday 15 October 2022.

Acknowledgements

The Drying Green’s location and framework resulted from the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Masterplan design competition won by McGregor Coxall in 2006. The Client was the City of Sydney. Key dates: International competition win 2006, design commencement 2013, Construction completion 2022.

Design Consultant Team –
McGregor Coxall: Lead Consultant; CHROFI: Architects; Kerrie Poliness: Public Art; TTW: Structural Engineering; Alluvium: Water Engineering; Mott MacDonald: Civil and Electrical Engineering; Steensen Varming: Lighting Design; Hydroplan: Irrigation Design; JK Geotechnics: Geotechnical Engineering; Transelect: Substation Consultant; Construction Contractor: Regal Innovations

About McGregor Coxall
McGregor Coxall is an interdisciplinary design firm with studios in Australia and the UK. We are a global collective of innovators committed to shaping prosperous cities and environments. Interdisciplinary design is our DNA, research is our validation, humanity is our motivation and environmental regeneration is our resolve. Our international team provides services through the Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, Environment and Biourbanism Lab disciplines. Embracing leading digital technologies, we deliver design solutions for complex urban and environmental challenges.
T +61 (0)2 9188 7500, Website Address: https://mcgregorcoxall.com

Notes & References

1/ Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word “origami” is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques. Wikipedia.