Sydney as a collection of architectural eccentricities

Sydney as a collection of architectural eccentricities.

When we think of the city, we think of an urban environment filled with buildings. When we think of architecture we think of great buildings or urban projects that are beautiful and designed with purpose. An example would be the Sydney opera house. So beautiful and iconic that it becomes part of the identity of the city it was built in. So if the Sydney opera house represents Sydney, what does the Sydney opera house really tell us about what Sydney is as a city? Is Sydney beautifully proportioned, meticulously designed and a modern masterpiece? Not really. So a study on a city’s iconic and famous architecture would not be useful in understanding what the city of Sydney is. So what kind of architecture can tell us about Sydney? Perhaps the research of Atelier Bow Wow can give us insight on the city as a collection of architectural eccentricities.

Atelier Bow Wow is an architectural firm based in Tokyo, Japan that researches eccentric urban architecture. Atelier bow-wow consider buildings like the opera house to be “design architecture”(Kuroda and Kaijima, 2001), beautiful and important cultural relics that inspire and decorate and celebrate a city but really existing as a creation made for the city by the city. What Atelier bow wow studies is the creation of da-me architecture ”(Kuroda and Kaijima, 2001), or “no good” architecture. Eccentric and stubbornly honest buildings that are created from the needs of a city and its people as well as the constraints of a city or regulation. They studied Tokyo and identified many strange and quirky buildings and compiled them in a guidebook. I have done the same for Sydney and used the same guidebook format to show the similarities between my examples to build a case for this new genre of architecture and what it says about the city it was built in. Because dame architecture”(Kuroda and Kaijima, 2001) are creations from the unique social, cultural and historical situations of a city they can tell us about what kind of city Sydney is. So what are my buildings? They are the Fire Station Café on Pitt street and the Capitol Square building in Haymarket.

The Fire Station Café is a small café on Pitt street and is an example of pet architecture. It is very small, barely wider than a small car and not much longer either. It fulfils the criteria of being a pet architecture building because it is small, makes use of an otherwise unusable space and exploits adjacent buildings to create an environmental unit which can then be used as a dining area or a mini plaza. Historically it was a fire station many decades ago but as the city grew and cars and infrastructure grew it became obsolete. However because of its value as a cultural heritage site, the building has been preserved and repurposed as a cafe while its surroundings have been redeveloped and demolished. Its surrounded by newer, modern buildings on either side that have left a small boundary around the cafe. It uses this space to place tables and chairs along the exterior of its walls and shamelessly uses the walls of its neighbours as well. Because of the situation created from its surrounding buildings using as much of the blocks space as they can, Firestation Café is the only uncovered open air space along Pitt street on the block and is actually quite a busy café. What we can learn about the city of Sydney from studying this eccentric example is that property is at a premium because of how the surrounding buildings tower above this little cafe. We also can learn that people of Sydney enjoy sunlight and a place outside to sit, meet and eat. Despite having food courts inside the new buildings, the café is very popular. We also have learnt that Sydney is a young city and its heritage and identity as a British colony is defended by heritage legislation. We can observe an interesting interaction between the people of Sydney and this eccentric building that fills a niche for the need of open air space and recreation in an area that would otherwise not any, if not for the buildings conservation.

My next example in my series is the capitol square building next to the capitol theatre. It is a 2 part building consisting of the heritage listed Watkins terrace as well as a glass galleria. I consider capitol square a dame architecture because we see the use of adjacent buildings to create the galleria and its use as a transport hub that connects the retail and hospitality elements of the square and theatre to a tram stop and major street to create an “environmental unit”(Kuroda and Kaijima, 2001). However we also see cross category hybridisation”(Kuroda and Kaijima, 2001), because capitol square is used as a hotel, eatery, arcade, karaoke lounge and computer market. Seemingly unrelated activities happen in this building. So what does capitol square tell us about Sydney as a city? It’s a multicultural city because the space is heavily used by Asian people, space is again at a premium because of the multifunction use of the building that fills many needs of the people, the city’s transport infrastructure is very old because of the fairly recent recommissioning of tramline. Again we see an interaction between the people of the city and the buildings they use. In this case a traditionally colonial recreational area next to the theatre has been repurposed to a hybrid retail and hospitality space that caters to a young immigrant population. Perhaps giving insight on the changing demographics of Sydney as well as the changing trends of recreation from the mix of traditional recreational media, theatre, to newer forms of entertainment from computers and arcade games.

I hope my research into Sydney as a collection of architectural eccentricities has given some insight into how the study of architecture can tell us about a city and its people.

bibliography:

Kaijima, M., Kuroda, J. and Tsukamoto, Y. (2001). Made in Tokyo. Tokyo: Kajima Inst. Publ.