The 6-pack projects are an adaptive interpretation of Ultimo’s decaying manufacturing precinct. The scheme combines two existing laneways via a connecting through link to intergrate with FRASER’S proposal for the decomissioned brewery site.
The question posed was not what new identity could be made for the ultimo creative precinct but what identity could be nourished as both pre-existing and at the same time progressive.
While still being considerate of change and the desire to genuinely improve we must also consider and learn from our recent past. For some time we have been focussed on matters of urban renewal rather than on matters of urban strengthening. We are often hasty to impose new identities on spaces rather than fostering those which already exist and in the turmoil we find ourselves reflecting “what is the identity of this place” it has no identity, forced meaning is not the answer and can not work. Heterotopias while possessing the potential to work in Sydney have to date not performed as well as in other prosperous cities such as Melbourne. We haven’t gotten the formula right. I look to examples such as Darling Harbor, the entertainment center and exhibition centre area and fox studios as prime examples of failed heterotopic misadventure at extreme financial and social cost to the city.
Site Context Plan
There are 6 key locations that exist within the UCEP brewery precinct capable of accommodating urban strengthening being the proposed Fraser’s public space, the termination of Harris Street at regent Street, Morturay Station, Regent Street, Outram Street commercial zone and O’Connor Street industrial zone. Ultimately the project has taken focus on O’Connor Street and Outram Street however there still exists a potential for the remaining sites for future development.
Proximity Axonometric
As the rate at which we move and are moved through space increases it is to the social, physical and political armatures of our city that we must focus our gaze.
O’Connor Street Ground Plan
O’Connor Street Section
As beings of bio-mechanic construction and as wonderers and explorers of this planet there is overwhelming potential for the armatures of connection that we use every day to assist us in determining a location in time and space. Armatures of physical nature may direct our everyday movement throughout a locality while historical and scenographic armatures possess the potential to re-engage our sense of identity.
O’Connor Street Elevation
Detail Section of Operable Stair
Perspective View of Operable Stair
Outram Street Plan
Outram Street Section
Just as the exercise of cinemetrics involves the study of a cut in time, the potential loss of a cut in time or the discarding of identity over time can equate only to a reversal of what we strive for in the concept of identity. As physical armatures are reduced and the speed at which images are provided to us increases we are moving beyond an identity that has taken many years to construct.
Outram Street Elevation
Detail Section of Operable Stair
Perspective View of Global Activities Arcade
The 6-PACK Project proposes a series of architectural and artistic interventions aimed at re-investing some of the social and economical aspects of evryday life into the UCEP. The 6-PACK project aims to address the inherent frictions that exist within the UCEP such as work:play – exertion:leisure – global:local – past:future – admission:exclusion & familiar:unforseen. To this extent it is primarily towards improving matters of social sustainability that the 6 PACK Project aspires.
jtondi
