What a wonderful world this would be

Subi Surf Park in Perth

History

The closure of the cities primary foot­ball stadium (Subiaco Oval) coupled with the closure of two major public markets presented the commu­nity of Subiaco with a signi­fi­cant set of economic, cultural and iden­tity chal­lenges – and was the start of Subi Surf Park. Subiaco had for the last 100 years been heavily asso­ciated with Foot­ball and Markets and their loss was compoun­ding an ongoing decline created through the homo­ge­nisa­tion of a once diverse urban village. Subiaco Oval (“Subi“) is located in Subiaco, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Form­erly the highest capa­city stadium in Western Australia and one of the main stadiums in Australia, seating 43,500 people, the ground was the home of Austra­lian rules foot­ball in Western Australia, being the home ground for the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Foot­ball Club. Both clubs moved to Perth Stadium, completed in late 2017 and offi­ci­ally opened on 21 January 2018.

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Design

MJA studio began work on Subi Surf Park after recei­ving a letter invi­ting parti­ci­pa­tion in a commu­nity survey from the local council in anti­ci­pa­tion of the closure of the stadium. MJA’s response to the survey took the form of a sche­matic proposal based around the prin­ci­ples of: inclu­si­vity, expanded public space and access, acces­si­bi­lity, recrea­tion and reco­gni­tion of heri­tage. MJA studio proposed the follo­wing sequence of events:

  • Subiaco Oval to be demo­lished, concrete to be crushed for re-use
  • Replace Oval with large water­body
  • Surround water­body with public open space
  • Elevate the public open space, crea­ting a hill rising above the flat topo­graphy of Subiaco
  • Acti­vate the Ground plane with a perma­nent market­place, hospi­ta­lity and Foot­ball Hall of fame
  • Insert 220 dual aspect apart­ments between the Ground plane and the new elevated public space
  • Create a new axial link between the two adja­cent train stations and line this axis with terrace housing and addi­tional public squares and event space
  • Open Subi­Surf Park utili­sing Wave­Garden tech­no­logy in the large water body

Lagoon

Subi Surf Park will deliver the highest quality man made waves on the planet, and the most authentic surfing expe­ri­ence for new and exis­ting surfers of all ages, expe­ri­ence and ability. Once the lagoon has been filled the water required per annum is equi­table to what is curr­ently used on the exis­ting stadiums lawn. Boun­dary Hill is a 12,800m² exten­sion to Kitchener Park, the 1:20 gradient allows for disabled access without handrails throug­hout. This new public park is desi­gned for passive and active recrea­tion space as well as a tempo­rary event space and oppor­tu­nity to survey the lagoon, CBD and land­scape beyond. The built form of the park and apart­ments below follow the geometry of the former stadium but their taper ensures a reduc­tion of overs­ha­dowing to the southern neigh­bours of 25%.

It’s all there

The apart­ments are desi­gned to maxi­mise the amenity of the end user ensu­ring solar access and cross venti­la­tion wherever their loca­tion. Each apart­ment has a private and public balcony space flan­king their apart­ment allo­wing them to choose their level of inter­ac­tion with the rest of the deve­lo­p­ment. Market­Hall ensures a perma­nent home for a new 3,000m² public market which can be open all week and on weekends can expand onto a 6,500m² Market Square. The inten­tion of the Market programme is to support micro-entre­pre­neurs and help diver­sify the Subiaco economy. The history of Austra­lian Foot­ball on the site is reco­g­nised throug­hout the proposal with imbedded art instal­la­tions, augmented reality and a home for the WA Foot­ball Hall of Fame. Subi Surf Park is a bril­liant concep­tual proposal that MJA studio pitched to the local govern­ment and stake­hol­ders in 2015. Unfort­u­na­tely, imple­men­ta­tion is still uncer­tain.

Project data

Architect

MJA studio Suite 6 / 23 Railway Road Subiaco 6008 Western Australia

Address

Subiaco Rd Subiaco WA 6008 Australia

Aerial view

Thank you, Google!

Author

MJA studio

Plans

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