VOLUME 1 MASTER PLAN & CONCEPT DESIGN - Cairns Regional ...

architectural design option 2: ‘layered roofscape’ concept diagram
3.2 the tWo architectural design options
appropriate form and character for the precinct in order to meet the brief’s and community’s aspirations.
From a range of alternatives, the project team chose to develop the following two architectural options due
to strong philosophical and functional rationales.
option 1: ‘the architectural rainforest’
‘architectural rainforest’ is a loose terminology to describe the potential for the canopies over the central
public spaces to adopt organic shapes and to perform environmentally with greater effect than conventional
canopies might do.
a catalyst for this concept is the Cairns City Centre Master plan’s strategy for ‘greening’ Grafton street
into a verdant tropical boulevard, linking City place to the Cep’s public space heart. the ‘architectural
rainforest’ would form a climax to the Grafton street corridor and would signify the public space as a
major nodal point in the city.
option 2: ‘the layered roofscape’
the primary aim of this concept is to devise a series of roof forms that can rise and fall over both the
buildings and the public space in a consistent expression, such that the flytower in particular is incorporated
into the overall composition.
the concept comprises a series of parallel channels and ‘box-shaped’ roofs which tier down at the
northern and southern ends, and rise up at the public space and again at the flytower. the shapes are
based upon an abstraction of the repeated rectilinear forms of shipping containers and of the long linear
forms of wharf sheds, producing both a visual and metaphoric contrast to Option 1.
the two options were presented at Community Workshop 3 as initial sketches, and were developed into
realistic three dimensional images for Community Workshop 4. Both concepts were positively received,
primarily because the concepts celebrated the public / community spaces rather than accentuating the
flytower, and because the roofs were regarded as appropriate elements to express the iconic identity of a
major public precinct in a tropical climate.
Both options are applied to the same Concept Design plans and are considered to be adaptable as the
design develops into phase 2.
Cairns entertainment preCinCt || concept design report || cacox rayner 28