The Rocks
An urban pathway connecting Geraldton’s city centre to the waterfront
Project info
Client: City of Greater Geraldton
Location: Geraldton, WA
Traditional owners: The Yamatji peoples
Value: $2.5 Million
Date: 2020
Collaborators: UDLA, Trevor Richards
Photography: KM Photography, Graeme Gibbons
The City of Greater Geraldton was looking to repurpose ‘The Rocks’ – a standard main street building – into a community events space and pedestrian link between Geraldton’s main street and waterfront.
A collective design process between the city, TRCB’s team of architects, landscape architects UDLA, and artist Trevor Richards led to the brief being expanded to include a 300-metre-long meta-graphic artwork and steel-framed pavilion – additional connective elements that improve the pedestrian experience across a larger portion of the city and lend new leases of life to previously run-down urban spaces.
Key to our team’s approach was a drive to achieve valuable urban design outcomes with minimal built form additions. The original ‘The Rocks’ building has been stripped back to become a throughway and covered community space, the skeletal pavilion reinstates the streetscape in an open and pedestrian-friendly way and Trevor Richard’s meta-graphic extends across existing surfaces to unify the different zones.
This city-to-foreshore pathway has succeeded at drawing people in; the repurposing of underutilised spaces has improved connections through Geraldton’s city centre, strengthening local identity along the way.
Awards
2021 Good Design Awards – Urban Architecture Winner
2020 Australian Institute of Architects WA Awards – Urban Architecture Award
2020 Australian Institute of Landscape Architects National Awards – Urban Design Award
2020 Australian Institute of Landscape Architects WA Awards – Urban Design Award
2020 Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) WA Awards – Best Public Works Project $2M–$5M (Regional)
Some of our Civic & Public projects:
