PROJECT NAME
Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, Sydney
LOCATION
Sydney, Australia
The Walsh Bay finger wharves were originally constructed between 1912-1921 to the design of Henry Dean Walsh. Shipping uses ceased in the 1970s and Wharf 4/5 was adapted for use by the Sydney Theatre Company in 1983, with Sydney Dance Company and Bangarra joining shortly after. Pier 2/3 was the last undeveloped pier in the precinct.
The $280 million redevelopment of Sydney’s Walsh Bay Arts Precinct was undertaken in two stages and created a full transformation of Pier 2/3, Wharf 4/5 and the associated Shore Sheds.
The precinct is now home to nine arts companies. It has five new theatres, concert halls, vast exhibition spaces, rehearsal rooms, bars, administration, and workshops for wardrobe, scenery and props.
In 2022 architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer won a National Trust (NSW) Heritage Award for its adaptive reuse. In the same year Tonkin Zulaikha Greer were awarded the state’s top award, the NSW Architecture Medallion for its creative transformation of the historic finger wharves into a foreshore cultural hotspot, an Award for Public Architecture and the Greenway Award for Heritage. Also in that year the firm was awarded the Lachlan Macquarie Award for Heritage Architecture from the National Architecture Award Jury.
Minale Gerber consulted with Create NSW, the NSW Government’s arts policy and funding body, the architects and the managing contractor in developing a wayfinding signage system for the precinct from a complex brief.