Southport Broadwater Parklands

The Broadwater Parklands is a 3km-long parkland, including 500m² offices, pavilion, pier, solar shelters, bridge, outdoor stage and amenities building that will serve as an iconic gateway for the Gold Coast, rejuvenating a popular destination and creating an active waterfront. The conceptual framework of the architecture was to create an efficient, robust and programmatic response to the everyday functional workings of a civic space while infusing a clearly identifiable poetic notion of place. The buildings provide a reinforcement of the contextual urban fabric as a geometric and structured element allowing the CBD to bypass the highway, further stitching the city to the water's edge. A singular approach to the colour and materiality of the buildings allows for a constant and integrated architectural language throughout the parkland and references the many white boat hulls and sails moored in the adjacent Broadwater. Inspired by fractured geometric shapes, each building is wrapped in a white, perforated cladding reinforcing a sculptural approach to the creation of the architecture and providing a unique form of sunshading and shroud feature lighting to create dramatic and variable affects after dark. The Pier Pavilion houses the park's visitor centre, display gallery, park offices, depot, public change, shower and toilet facilities, secure bike lockers, rooftop gardens, pathways and outdoor function spaces. These combine with a covered viewing promontory, taking in expansive views of the Broadwater, The Spit and the iconic Surfers Paradise skyline. The Southport Pier continues the main processional Nerang Street axis through the park, past the Pier Pavilion extending into the Broadwater. The sculpted balustrading and various concrete, timber and metal grating deck levels provide a variety of experiences for users, while the extensive timber seating and angular solar shelters lined with PV panels, provide an abundance of shade and rest opportunities. The Solar shelters distributed throughout the Central Spine provide shaded rest spots while overtly articulating the sustainable design agenda of the parklands. All shelters are lined in PV panels to generate energy for use within the parkland and all runoff treated through biofiltration landscape basins at the foot of each shelter. The Rockpools Bridge is a sculptural timber and concrete pedestrian link between the Central pavilion rooftop and the wet play area fronting the Broadwater. The Outdoor Stage sitting opposite the Pier Pavilion frames the Gold Coast's main civic space, The Great Lawn and provides an outdoor performance and cinema venue for crowds up to 15,000 people. The cladding material is perforated at the edges, casting transient shadows throughout the day and glowing like lanterns as darkness falls. The Amenities Building provides a communal meeting room as well as toilet, change and shower facilities adjacent to the secondary events lawn and children's playscape.