Q: Ivana, DWP is an award winning multicultural architectural practice with representation in many countries throughout Australia, Asia and Middle East, and has a vast portfolio of large-scale projects including a series of Sports & Recreation projects in Australia.
As the Studio Director of DWP Sydney office, and being part of the design team for Concord Oval Community and Sports Precinct project, can you tell us about the design process for a project of this calibre elaborating around the main challenges faced by DWP during the concept, design, and construction stages?
“Planning and the design of the Concord Oval Redevelopment project was focused around the community and how adaptability and flexibility of spaces will cater for future trends and represents the outcome of the interdisciplinary approach.
Redevelopment of Concord Oval now represents a revitalised destination for a range of integrated and colocated community services.
In the design process few had a few challenges including existing fig trees, car parking, traffic conditions, site topography, colocation of number of different sporting activities, site security and meeting future population growth
At the same time we identified a number of opportunities including new connections within the wider sports precinct, shared facilities and amenities as a sport hub, passive recreation, new public realm and civic spaces, commercial and retail offerings and pedestrian and cycle-friendly circulation.
The client and us had aspirations in relation to sustainability, future-proofing and to provide the community with a highly flexible multipurpose facility.
During construction we had some additional challenges and delays due to the heritage excavations and Covid-19 - delays in the program and supply of materials.”