The design brief for each architect was simply to create iconic architecture of the highest sustainable standards, with people at their heart. This brief was spearheaded by Dr Stanley Quek, then CEO of Frasers Property Australia, who felt it was important to devote one-third of the 5.8 hectare site to public, open spaces.
The masterplan therefore revolved around a spacious urban park, which covers 6,400 square metres in size. This, together with an intricate web of roads and pathways, draws people into the heart of Central Park and delivers its character and soul. It also returns the old Kent Brewery to the people of Sydney after 150 years of exclusion.
Sustainable design features include solar panels, rooftop gardens, tri-generation pipes and water tanks, which are cleverly adapted into each corner of the site.
“To have the voice of the engineer, community and architect working together to create one vision – this is the way contemporary architecture is made,” says Alex Tzannes, Director of Tzannes Associates, who played a key role in shaping the original masterplan.
The masterplan is the unifying element that dictates the overall design, resulting in buildings that are memorable and distinctive, and enjoy a more special relationship with the people who inhabit them.
- Alec Tzannes