It would be hard to think of Sydney without that iconic opera house dominating the ferry terminal at Circular Quay, but originally the land beneath it was a parking lot for the city's original tram fleet. When the decision was made to build an opera house the design was thrown open to world minds - and what we got is a building that gains immediate recognition across the entire world.
Sydney is Australia's best known city and world audiences remember our harbour bridge, the Opera House - and the new year fireworks celebrations. Now we are about to spend three hundred million dollars on an upgrade of the ferry terminal and it looks like the design will be restricted to the ideas of government architects working under the instructions of our politicians.
That is something that should be open to world competition. We are lucky to have one of the world's most magnificent harbours and that ferry terminal at Circular Quay is the focal point of vast crowds travelling to and from work on harbour ferries. There is no doubt that ferry travel is more romantic than being crammed in trains or buses over inland routes.
Those ferry wharves have been unchanged for a long period of time, and they are looking very dowdy. Many people think the city centre was diminished when the Cahill Expressway was imposed across the building overlooking the harbour. This upgrade of the ferry terminal presents an ideal opportunity for this major feature of the city to undergo a complete change. It should be an opportunity for the world's best minds to think freely and work outside the proverbial " nine dots " !
The problem with restricting change to government architects is that commercial interests come to the fore. Powerful people seek to resist change in case it affects their property ownership and we are unlikely to get the best result unless all such restrictions are set aside. This is an opportunity to present Sydney as a world city - and Circular Quay as a new " wonder of the world ".
One of the problems of the proposed development is that already many possible innovations are being ruled out. No permanent living accommodation will be permitted in the new design and yet such a decision should be made after the winning design is selected rather than imposing limitations before the opportunities offering are fully explored.
Perhaps the main reason this development is not being thrown open to world minds is fear of the cost of what might emerge. The plan for the Opera House was so outstanding that it just had to be built, and yet the final cost was unknown. Creating a building different from anything that had previously been even thought of created immense challenges. The builders were pushed to the limit, and the outcome was something that astonished the world.
A similar opportunity exists with this Circular Quay redevelopment. It is an opportunity to " think big " and open the project to a world audience. But it seems there is a tendency to " think small " and avoid the risk factor. It is about time the same thinking that created the Opera House was allowed to prevail !
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