NorthBank
Northbank is an urban planning and public architecture proposition for a prominent section of the Brisbane River bank adjacent to the CBD. The site is dominated by the riverside expressway, a major piece of 1970s infrastructure that strangles the old riverbank and divides the city from the river.
By subtly modifying the traffic flow, opportunities are made for architectural interventions that overcome the concrete barriers and create places and public space at the edge of the city. The functions are defined by the urban context, while the forms react to the landscape of concrete bridges and voids.
Jury Comment
The project is a clear demonstration of the rehabilitative capacity of architecture. Using hybrid building typologies in interstitial spaces of major urban infrastructure, the project makes strategic, topographically specific and highly nuanced urban moves to reframe the relationship between land, water and existing infrastructure. The result convincingly produces new typologies of habitable spaces and socially rich functional programs, while redefining what was a lost edge of the city. The jury felt the scheme encourages more adventurous thinking and interventions commensurate with the scale of urban infrastructure such as freeways and bridges. The project begs the question of what constitutes a sustainable response to a sub-tropical climate in what is becoming a popular project type in landscape urbanism.
