Sydney Exhibition Centre, NSW Building, Australia Architecture, Design, Architect

Sydney Exhibition Centre : Darling Harbour Architecture

Darling Harbour Development – design by Cox, Richardson, Taylor and Partners

25 + 23 Jan 2013

Exhibition Centre Sydney

Darling Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Design: Cox, Richardson, Taylor and Partners

The Sydney Exhibition Centre is a significant building for Sydney, recognised internationally as an outstanding architectural building of the twentieth century.

Sydney Exhibition Centre:

photo : Patrick Bingham-Hall

The campaign is for the protection of Sydney Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Sydney Convention Centre – Original Architect John Andrews:

photo : Danny Kildare

Text from Cox, Richardson, Taylor and Partners, 25 Jan 2013:

Built as part of the great tradition of exhibition buildings this internationally acclaimed building was a cornerstone for the redevelopment of Darling Harbour and the Nation’s Bi-Centennial celebrations.

Philip Cox has stated: “The removal of the Sulman Award winning Sydney Exhibition Centre is an act of vandalism and in fact is quite unnecessary. Early examination of the proposal suggests the building can be retained”.

Sydney Exhibition Centre Building:

photos : Patrick Bingham-Hall

John Richardson, Project Director, announced “NSW 20th Century heritage will suffer a serious blow. Major works by Ken Woolley, John Andrews, Michael Dysaght and Philip Cox are gone or are now under threat”.

Proposed new schemes:

HASSELL + Populous win Sydney’s new Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Precinct design project, Australia

image : HASSELL + Populous
SICEEP Darling Harbour – 18 Dec 2012
Joint venture partners HASSELL + Populous have won the architectural contract for the design of Sydney’s new integrated convention, exhibition and entertainment precinct at Darling Harbour, due for completion in 2016. HASSELL will also design the extensive public parklands and open space within the 20 hectare precinct. HASSELL + Populous are design consultants to Destination Sydney consortium.

Darling Harbour Redevelopment – Masterplan + ICC Hotels
Design: OMA

image : OMA
Darling Harbour Redevelopment – 13 Dec 2012
The New South Wales Government announced today that Destination Sydney, consisting of Lend Lease, HOSTPLUS, Capella Capital, AEG Ogden and Spotless, is the preferred consortium for Sydney International Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Precinct (SICEEP) redevelopment. OMA is the master plan designer within the consortium, and is also the conceptual architect of the ICC Hotels within the master plan.

Darling Harbour Development – Article. 28 Jan 2013

Text from Cox, Richardson, Taylor and Partners, 23 Jan 2013:

Comprising five interconnected halls, each of 5,000 square metres, an underground 1,000 space car park; it is one of three public buildings undertaken by the practice in the Darling Harbour Redevelopment Area, adjacent to Sydney’s CBD.

photos from architects

The concept for the centre principally arose from four objectives. The first was to continue the tradition of structurally innovative exhibition centres dating back to Joseph Paxton’s steel, wood and glass Crystal Palace in London. The second was to establish an integral relationship with a new park stretched along one frontage. Thirdly, it sought to convey a distinctive maritime theme conducive to a historic harbour port and finally, it needed to achieve 100 metre spans without creating a massively scaled edifice.

These objectives were met by a continuous mast and rod structure, proving to be both economical and to allow a low horizontal scale to be developed. From concept design, the entire project took 32 months to complete.

Sydney Exhibition Centre Building:

photos : Patrick Bingham-Hall

Since completion it has been acclaimed by the local MICE industry as an outstanding success. It remains today part of the leading convention and exhibition centre in Australia despite growing competition interstate. It continues to meet the functional and operational requirements of convenors and exhibitors.

Architectural Significance

The Centre has been recognised nationally and internationally as being of considerable merit. It has been covered by journals around the world.

Sydney Exhibition Centre Building:

photographs : David Moore

It has been recognised by the Australia Institute of Architects for its excellence. In 1989, it was awarded the Sir John Sulman Medal RAIA (NSW Chapter) by a committee chaired by Harry Seidler. In the same year it was a fi nalist for the Sir Zelman Cowan Award.

Internationally it is mentioned in Bannister Fletcher, the authoritative book on world architecture, as an important contribution to World and Australian Architecture.

It is also mentioned as an example by excellence by Scharpe as an outstanding example of Twentieth Century Architecture

In 2010, the Centre took out the title of Australasia’s Leading Meetings and Conference Centres in the World Travel Awards for the fi fth consecutive year. Thousands of industry travel professionals voted in the awards with the venue winning over a number of other regional venues.

The Centre continues to win awards for venue excellence and, in 2012, the Centre won Best Venue in the Australian Event Awards.

Sydney Exhibition Centre Building:

drawing from Cox, Richardson, Taylor and Partners

Sydney Exhibition Centre – Building Information

Location: Darling Harbour, Sydney
Commenced: 1985
Completed: 1988
Capital Cost: $80 million

Design Team:
Architects – Cox, Richardson, Taylor and Partners
Structural Engineer – Ove Arup and Partners
Civil Engineer – Ove Arup
Mechanical – W E Bassett
Electrical – Addicoat, Hogarth and Wilson
Communications – Addicoat, Hogarth and Wilson
Hydraulic – Creasey Murray
Acoustic – Peter Knowland

Contractor: Leighton Contractors
Exhibition Space: 27,200 square metres Grade A space, including 5 halls of 5,000 square each with 12+ metres clear height Parking 900 undercover car spaces

Sydney Exhibition Centre images + information from Cox

Cox Architects

Location: Darling Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia