CHROFI, architectural practice based in Sydney, Australia

Maitland Riverlink

Client:
Maitland City Council

Program:
Public Plaza, Gateway Structure, Cafe, Amenities

Scale:
439 sqm

Year:
2012 - 2018

Design Partner:
McGregor Coxall

Scope:
Design, Documentation, Site Services

Photography:
Simon Wood, Edge Commercial Photography, Matt Abbott, Brett Boardman

Team:
Braddon Snape, SDA, Cardno, City Plan, JBA, Northrop, AJ Whipps, Steve Watson Partners, BCA Access Solutions, Marshall Day Entertech, Frost, RLB, Deuce Design, MCD Fire Engineering

Builder:
Graph

Location:
Maitland NSW

Visualisation:
Doug & Wolf, CHROFI

Status:
Complete

FROM THREAT TO COMMUNITY ASSET: Reviving a country town’s heart and linking it to the river

The Maitland Riverlink crystallises new value for the regional centre Maitland, both in terms of its identity and its assets. The project supports a revitalisation of the central business precinct, extending it beyond the main street to the river.

The space acts as a kind of ‘public living room’ for the community, reactivating an unused part of town and drawing locals back to the river that is a fundamental part of Maitland’s heritage, whilst bringing tourists and visitors to the town. In recent years, rural Maitland’s town centre had turned its back on the river, disconnecting it from its main commercial and community activities. A series of devastating floods meant locals no longer see the river as an asset, but as a threat to the community. Working with McGregor Coxall, CHROFI identified an opportunity to help reframe that dynamic, then worked closely with Maitland City Council to find buildings which could be purchased and redeveloped to act as pivot for the revitalisation of the centre of town.

The architecture is intended to act as a civic set piece in a street full of great buildings. It also registers as a landmark when viewed from the levee bank, from neighbouring Lorn and the Belmore Bridge. The design balances these architectural ambitions with consideration for the human scale. The precise angles of the walls, ceiling and floor, twist and distort the central space, to subtly slow movement through. The gateway frames a public space that invites occupation, a place to sit, shade in summer, a mobile library, access to high quality public amenities and a restaurant and can all be transformed into an outdoor cinema or theatre for the community.

Brick was chosen as the primary building finish to complement the existing materials and textures of the streetscape and Maitland in general. The warmth and texture of clay bricks works at the urban scale and at the interior human scale to provide an enduring finish. Hand-made specials help the monolithic brick walls bend at unlikely angles giving the material an unexpected and abstract quality. Where there is a requirement for light, transparency or operability, a complementary pattern of light-weight timber batten panels is used to provide these qualities while retaining the fine-scale expression of the brick patterning.

Press

The Sydney Morning Herald 'Think how much this puts back into an area': architects celebrate public design

The Maitland Mercury Riverlink takes out another major design award - NSW Architecture Medallion

Awards

2019 National Architecture Awards

The Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design
Award for Public Architecture

2019 NSW Architecture Awards

NSW Architecture Medallion
SULMAN MEDAL FOR PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE
Award for Urban Design
Blacket Prize

2019 Australian Urban Design Awards - Built Projects, City and Regional Scale

2019 The Good Design Award – The Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award – Civic and Community Centers

2019 INDE.Awards – The Building2018 Blueprint Awards - Winner, Best Public Project with Public Funding

2019 Architizer A+ Awards – Finalist

National Trust 2019 Heritage Award – Highly Commended – Continuing TraditionNewcastle Architecture Awards – Public Architecture

2018 WAF – Civic and Community – Completed Buildings

Newcastle Architecture Awards – Urban Design

Newcastle Architecture Awards – Newcastle Jury Prize

2018 Think Brick Awards – High Commendation for the New Entrant Award

2018 Architizer A+ Award – Popular Choice Winner - Concepts - Plus-Architecture +Urban Transformation