OCULUS was engaged by the City of Sydney to design Dyuralya Square, a large civic square at the heart of Sydney’s Lachlan Precinct near Moore Park. Located on Gadigal Avenue adjacent to a planned light rail stop, the square is designed as a place for small events (e.g. markets and swap-meets), incidental play, day-to-day recreation and outdoor dining. The square contains a series of garden rooms for relaxation and socialisation, a lawn terrace and several urban courts.

The design interprets and reveals the site’s rich natural and cultural history in different ways. The arrangement of the garden rooms mirrors the layout of landscape terraces that used to occupy the site while a water sculpture references an original swamp line that traversed the lower half of the site. The arrangement of furniture, paving and tree pits is guided by more recent industrial history, specifically the former factory alignments which are depicted as inlays in the paving.

In addition to event spaces, the square includes smaller more intimate spaces for individuals to reflect and seek refuge from the noise and activity of a high density urban environment. Trees, hedges and level changes help to provide shelter, privacy and separation. A consistent materials palette binds the open and closed spaces together and helps to create a common vernacular.

The design process was exhaustive and focused, with a high level of design collaboration with urban designers and landscape architects from the City of Sydney. Coupled with extensive research into the program, scale and arrangement of comparable urban squares, the design process helped deliver a bold, pragmatic and welcoming public open space.