25 Years On: Celebrating the 2000 Sydney Olympics

This year marks 25 years since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. We're proud to have been a part of the Games historic legacy, having contributed to designs for the Sydney International Aquatic Centre, the Sydney International Athletic Centre, Sydney Olympic Village masterplan as well as the Sydney Olympic Park Baseball Stadium and Ryde Aquatic Leisure.

To celebrate, let’s take a look at some of these iconic Games venues.

The Sydney International Aquatic Centre (In Association with Cox Richardson)

The Sydney International Aquatic Centre hosted all of the finals for the swimming, diving, synchronised swimming, and water polo competitions (as well as their preliminaries, bar water polo). Completed in 1994, the centre houses 4 pools, including a 1000m² leisure pool and an 8-lane training pool. To support a broad range of users, the centre also included a gymnasium, cafe, and crèches.

An innovate design element was the centre's vaulted diagrid roof which spanned the building. Supported by a steel arch along its open edge, this allowed one wall to be removed for the addition of temporary seating, increasing the capacity from approximately 4,500 to 17,000.

The design took home took home the 1995 Architectural Steel Design Award and a Gold Medal at the 1999 IOC/IAKs Awards.

Sydney International Athletic Centre (In Association with Cox Richardson)

Winner of the RAIA's Merit Award (Public Buildings) of 1995, the Sydney International Athletic Centre is an elite athletics facility with 5,000 seats, half of which are undercover—with an additional 10,000 seats on grassed embankments. With the same environmental and qualitative track conditions of the main stadium, the centre acted as a warm-up facility during the Games. Thereafter, it was reverted to serve as the premiere athletic facility in Sydney—a purpose it serves still to this day.

Sydney Olympic Village Masterplan / Newington Apartments 1A and B (In Association with HPA Architects)

Together with HPA Architects, we developed the concept for Sydney Olympic Village's residential precincts and the village's design guidelines and controls. As part of this, we designed one of the perimeter apartment blocks, Newington Apartments Block 1A and 1B

Marked by their articulate roofline, the buildings occupied a prominent position in the continuous ribbon of apartment buildings on the village's edge near to the major sporting facilities. Prioritising sustainability, the design also incorporated passive design strategies such as cross ventilation; minimal south facing glazing; large, shaded north facing areas; as an extension of the living spaces; and vertical sun shading devices..

Newington Apartments 1A and B won the 2002 RAIA - NSW Premier's Award for Excellence in Apartment Design and is featured as a case study on NSW Government's "Good design for housing" webpage.