{"id":223115,"date":"2025-10-31T13:09:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T02:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indesignlive.com\/?p=223115"},"modified":"2025-10-31T13:09:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T02:09:53","slug":"ivan-harbour-barangaroo-rshp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indesignlive.com\/projects\/ivan-harbour-barangaroo-rshp","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI don\u2019t think we ever imagined it would be as successful as it is\u201d: Ivan Harbour returns to Barangaroo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Not all architecture projects can be said to have changed a city. Barangaroo<\/a> has been a controversial project on the western harbourside edge of Sydney<\/a>\u2019s CBD, but its advocates and detractors alike agree on one thing: it\u2019s left a lasting legacy on the city. For RSHP’s Ivan Harbour, a visit to the site as it marks a ten-year milestone is an opportunity to reflect on what he sees as its successes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe site was extraordinary, but it felt like a backyard,\u201d says Harbour, thinking back to early visits and its redundant industrial history. \u201cIt used to be a very lively part of the city \u2013 it was <\/em>a front door. So [we asked], how can we find a way to get that mercantile activity back? That\u2019s what you\u2019re after, a critical mass. It was about rediscovering it and bringing a new front door to the west, [because] the city should look both ways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ethan Rohloff Photography.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Harbour almost exclusively describes the project in city-scale terms, always conceptualising the three International Towers\u2019 places in relation to the wider Barangaroo Masterplan and indeed the city as a whole. \u201cI think we were certainly interested in it because it was a project about cities and RSHP has been very interested for many years in what architects can bring to more conventional city planning,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The London<\/a>-based practice, Harbour notes, \u201chas been known for its statements on city-making\u2026 Richard Rogers and \u2018Cities for a Small Planet\u2019 \u2013 the concept of polycentric cities and having a density of activities around public transport nodes \u2013 all those were things we brought to this project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the past decade and beyond, however, controversy has persistently centred on the discarded masterplan by Hill Thalis, the casino at One Barangaroo, and questions regarding the towers’ appropriateness in terms of orientation and scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConstruction and city-making at this scale is highly political, and you can’t pretend to ignore that as an architect,\u201d says Harbour. \u201cFor me, it’s nice to see it sitting comfortably with the rest of the city. And that’s particularly important because, you do doubt yourself when you’re getting a lot of flak; you think, is this the right decision? Have we done the right thing? I think the proof is in the fact that you see it’s buzzing down there [at street level], and that’s everything at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: <\/em><\/strong>Pier Pavilion by Besley & Spresser<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Scotch Row laneway. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He continues: \u201cThe ultimate aim was to try to think beyond whether the buildings are tall enough, fat enough, wide enough \u2013 to think, actually, what’s really important is not what’s up here, but what’s down on the ground. It is for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RSHP\u2019s wider Australian work includes the nearby 8 Chifley as well as the soon-to-be-completed Melbourne Metro Tunnel in collaboration with Hassell<\/a> and Weston Williamson Partnership. As for future plans: \u201cI think we’ve been lucky\u2026 obviously this project has been absolutely, unbelievably important for us and for Sydney. We’d like to be here as long as people find we’re quite useful,\u201d concludes Harbour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RSHP
<\/strong>rshp.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography<\/strong>
Brett Boardman (except where credited separately)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Exploring the ground plane, podium and long elevation, courtesy of RSHP.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Lobby principles, courtesy of RSHP.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Extending the grid, courtesy of RSHP.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senior Design Director at RSHP reflects on Barangaroo South Masterplan during a visit to Sydney marking ten years since the completion of the first phase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":334,"featured_media":223117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[86,1183,28073,28056,1184,44,45],"tags":[1164,1911,26382,7266,8921,1162,36340,27513,7689,40212,1203,1099,434,27749,27294,1975,40214,40213,1163,38932,32408,25497,6252,559,995],"class_list":["post-223115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-slides","category-ideas","category-insight","category-latest-news","category-news","category-people","category-projects","tag-architecture","tag-barangaroo","tag-cities","tag-city","tag-city-planning","tag-design","tag-government","tag-harbour","tag-international-towers","tag-ivan-harbour","tag-london","tag-mixed-use","tag-office","tag-politics","tag-public","tag-public-architecture","tag-richard-rogers","tag-rshp","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-architecture","tag-tower","tag-uk","tag-urban-design","tag-workplace","tag-workplace-design","home-slides","ideas","insight","latest-news","news","people","projects"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRSHP & Ivan Harbour - 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