CHROFI collaborated with ASPECT Studios on the design of The Goods Line for Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority.
Completed in 2015, The Goods Line is a linear spine that connects several diverse city neighbourhoods, from Central to Surry Hills, to the harbour via the Darling Harbour Precinct.
The spine stitches together a unique concentration of cultural, media, and educational institutions forming a civic space rich with latent potential.
Beyond its connectivity function, The Goods Line responds to a shared desire to connect and collaborate that exists amongst the stakeholders – Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, University of Technology, Sydney, Powerhouse Museum, The ABC, TAFE – Sydney Institute, and the City of Sydney.
The Goods Line is conceived as a public platform for interaction and co-curation of events and exhibitions.
The revitalisation is expressed via a singular move.
The laying of a new datum, a precast concrete figure, onto the existing railway corridor, articulates the history of the site and concurrently tells the story of today.
These precast concrete panels form the paving, edges, steps, benches, and seating as an integrated prefabricated piece.
They are a re-tooling of an industrial element for a social purpose using a digital fabrication process.
Scattered along this ‘figure’ are a variety of opportunities for play, socialization, and respite ranging from water play elements, fitness stations, an oversized communal table, generous terraced seating, and cantilevered pods that offer a nestled escape within the canopies of the Moreton bay fig trees.
Collectively these diverse moments create a civic space that encourages occupation by different user groups within one of Sydney’s most densely populated precincts.
The ‘ground’ revealed by the absence of the ‘figure’ creates opportunities for robust planting, pocket gardens, and lawns amongst the meandering railway tracks, further softened by the presence of the line of established fig trees that provide a visual barrier to Darling Drive.
A corridor once energised by the movement of industrial goods will be re-energised with people and the exchange of ideas, marking the transformation from industrial infrastructure to social infrastructure.
Project Details
Project Size – 5,630 m2
Site Size – 5,630 m2
Project Budget – $9,000,000
Completion Date – 2015
Project Team
Project Design Lead
ASPECT Studios
ASPECT Studios is a design firm specialising in Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, Wayfinding and Urban Strategy.
The practice is led by a team of three Directors and ten Studio Directors who guide their Adelaide, Brisbane, Dubai, Melbourne, Perth, Shanghai, and Sydney studios.
Design Partner
CHROFI
CHROFI was founded in 2000 as Choi Ropiha following the win in the international competition for the re-design of the TKTS booth in Times Square, New York. The practice studio in Manly is now home to a team of 35 professionals headed by directors John Choi, Tai Ropiha, and Steven Fighera.
Civil, Structural, Hydraulic, and Electrical Engineers
ACOR Consultants
Founded in 1997, ACOR Consultants is a national, employee-owned engineering consulting firm, offering a full range of specialist engineering services.
Interpretive Design
Deuce Design
Deuce Design is a multi-disciplinary design studio creating everything from architectural and environmental graphics, wayfinding systems, interior installations, packaging, branding and identities, to publications, exhibitions, websites, and surface design.
Planning Consultants
JBA (now Ethos Urban)
JBA has merged with Planisphere and Buckley Vann to form Ethos Urban. Ethos Urban is a leading team of planners, economists, engagement specialists, project managers, social strategists, and designers, with a strong purpose to lead positive change in the quality of urban living across Australia.
Lighting Design
Lighting Art & Science
Lighting, Art + Science offers lighting design services, as well as service design in lighting control systems, electrical engineering, communications, electronic security systems, and dry fire.
Heritage Consultants
GML
GML Heritage’s award-winning team works across heritage, history, built environment, landscape, archaeology, interpretation and design, and climate heritage, delivering enduring value and shaping dynamic futures for heritage.
Research and Design for precast concrete
AR-MA
AR-MA works across all project types and scales, collaborating with architects, engineers, and builders to create innovative folios that transform experience. They couple state-of-the-art technology with the brightest minds in order to innovate across design, construction, and manufacturing processes.
Photography
Simon Whitbread
Simon is a Sydney-based commercial photographer specializing in architecture and interiors.
Florian Groehn
German-born, Florian is being inspired by continuous travel between two ‘worlds’ (Europe and Australia) and creates arresting images of architecture and interiors for a wide roster of built environment clients.
Photo Gallery
Click on a thumbnail image to enlarge.
Design © 2022 ASPECT Studios and CHROFI. All Rights Reserved.| Images © 2022 Simon Whitbread and Florian Groehn. All Rights Reserved.
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