With a focus on human-scale design elements and simple external architecture, the new metro station weaves large-scale infrastructure into the nearby Crows Nest Village and St Leonards community fabric.
A masterclass in delivering major infrastructure into village-scaled urban environments, the success of the new Crows Nest Station centres around the implementation of human, residential-scale solutions to the people-facing edges of the infrastructure typology.
Although Crows Nest is less than 10km from the inner city, the area is surrounded by low-rise, made of detached and semi-detached housing with a distinctly village atmosphere revered by residents. Woods Bagot Principal Lucian Gormley says, “infrastructure is typically delivered at a completely different scale to our older, historic sub-urban residential communities. The size and scale of the pieces – designed to be craned into place – are quite often not legible at a human scale.”
Project narrative sketch by Lucian Gormley.
“Our design team worked hard to find solutions that responded to the requirement of infrastructure whilst speaking to the historic, village scale, residential aspects of the site.”
The station interiors explore the intersection of community and infrastructure. Precast beams are exposed throughout the paid concourse, in a nod to the infrastructural legacy of the site. The beams are almost woven with the lighter-feeling brickwork fabric to illustrate the juxtaposition of the elements.
The initial site excavation uncovered only one heritage element which was passed over to the design team for consideration – a broken Victorian tile. Commonly associated with Crows Nest, the design team emanated the recurring theme of Victorian verandah tiles to develop a granite floor tile pattern that changes across the station front of house spaces.
Lucian Gormley says, “This pattern is most prevalent at the platform space where we felt it represented a welcome mat for passengers and locals returning home.”
A Heritage interpretation delivers a welcome mat for returning customers.
A hand-glazed geometric tile art installation by Esther Stewart.
Perforated cladding artwork frames the journey from concourse to platform.
Tiles are a feature piece of the new metro station, with a geometric art installation adorning the two station entrances on Pacific Highway and Clarke Street. Designed by artist Esther Stewart, the colourful artwork references the heritage of the Crows Nest area and the building elements in handmade coloured glazed tiles.
Interior station lighting has been designed to mimic a more residential environment, while exposed Corten cladding used at high-level on the platform references train infrastructure whilst bringing the warmth of local brickwork down to lower ground.
“The exteriors are a continuation of the exploration between community and infrastructure,” says Gormley. “The modulated brickwork façade system has successfully grounded the building within its local environment and the brick skin has also been used in a multitude of ways to overcome a myriad of design problems.”
The design utilised brick slips within precast panels to facilitate the speed of construction necessary for infrastructure projects. “By corbelling these as cantilevered modules, the material scale is adjusted to be more human-friendly. Additionally, a lightweight DfMA louvre screen is incorporated into the street-facing facades, allowing them to blend with the local context while accommodating the significant mechanical ventilation needs of a metro station,” says Gormley.
The Crows Nest community were given a first glimpse at their future commute during the Crows Nest Station Community Open Day, with over 9,500 locals in attendance.
Lucian Gormley says, “When building new infrastructure into a small-scale community, you brace yourself for some negative sentiment. Fortunately, the community response at the community open day was resoundingly positive. From conversations we had with locals on the day, the consensus appeared to be that the station was a fantastic representation of the local identity.”
“Watching this station take form over the last few years to such positive response is really exciting,” says Woods Bagot Principal and Transport Lead John Prentice. “We pride ourselves on the execution of bespoke designs that speak to their locations and create a strong sense of community – which is also evident in the work we have done for Sydney Metro Central Station. Every element and material has ties to the location and history, carrying those stories for generations to come.”
Senior Associate Anthony Chow says, “seeing the community response and turnout during the public open day was extremely rewarding. Metro station projects create great opportunities to connect the community, and good design turns them into catalysts for great places. For Crows Nest, we wanted to curate a sense of warmth and tactility through the brickwork while celebrating the infrastructure elements through precast beams and metal cladding – creating a meaningful commute anchored by a strong sense of place.”
The station has nearly reached practical completion, with some ongoing precinct works, including footpath and intersection upgrade work, utility works within the road, and footpath and cycle lane upgrade work. Final testing is underway, with the new metro station set to open as part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project in August this year.
When operational, around 10,100 passengers are expected to pass through the Sydney Metro Crows Nest Station during the morning peak period, with travel time from Crows Nest to Barangaroo in just five minutes and to Martin Place in seven minutes.
Media enquiries Adrien Moffatt Content and Communications Specialist (Australia)
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