Overview
Architect: Convic Design P/L
The Geelong Youth Activities Area (YAA) is a public recreational plaza at Western Beach on the waterfront adjacent to the CBD precinct of Geelong. The YAA provides the community with accessible infrastructure in the heart of Geelong. The YAA is integrated seamlessly with an adjacent under-10 play space and sits comfortably within the context of Corio Bay and the Geelong waterfront.
The YAA is an innovatively designed, flexible, multi-purpose outdoor youth-focussed area that contains open-air spaces suitable for a range of activities and events including markets, live music, art exhibitions, catwalk, dance, street theatre, BMX riding, basketball, skate boarding, interactive media, wireless internet and seating. The YAA covers an area of around 4,000m2 on the waters edge and future expansion of the area will include viewing terraces, a climbing wall and more pedestrian access points to the upper main road. The aim of the project was to provide young people with a venue, programs and activities that are accessible in location, choice and affordability and that encourage participation, social interaction, recreation and community inclusiveness.
This major public urban recreation space was delivered by the Urban Design Unit of the City of Greater Geelong, Convic Design and Canteri Brothers Constructions. Funding partners included the Federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government and the State Government of Victoria through the Department of Sport and Recreation and the Department of Victorian Communities. A donation towards the project was received from the Ford Motor Company.
Society
The park provides a diverse range of opportunities for sport, art, music, drama, markets, multimedia, displays & educational programs which reach a broad range of potential users.
The park was designed to respond to changing needs; to be evolutionary, ensuring cross- generational ownership and usage over time. The park of today will evolve into a park of the future. A number of strategies were applied to achieve this evolution, one of the most important being site selection.
The precinct offers a unique, non-threatening and highly personal space and is a practical solution to connecting young people with their community which in turn improves the wellbeing of all of residents and contributes in a positive way to the liveability of the city. The energy of the young users has been embraced by the wider community who drift in and out of the space. The YAA provides the community with accessible infrastructure in the heart of the city. It has been warmly embraced by the youth of Geelong who see it as their unique place. The asset has seen very minimal vandalism or anti-social behaviour.
With a score of 5/5 stars from the Australian Skate Park Guide, the Youth Activities Area at Western Beach is a high quality 'Barcalona style plaza' with great facilities and 'cutting edge design'. Described as 'easy on the eye and grouse on the grind' the Youth Activities Area at Western Beach is situated next to the children’s playground to the west of Cunningham Pier.
The YAA’s features include:
Open-air performance areas
Skating and boarding area
Sculptures
Unique LED lighting under the steps which make the stucture “glow” at night
Multimedia
A catwalk
Basketball practice area
Seating
Events are held here on the first Sunday of each month, and at various time throughout the year, and are generally free of charge.
Culture
An element in favour of the waterfront location was the fact that teenagers were poorly represented along the waterfront with most activities being targeted at families with very young children or licensed venues and restaurants for over 18’s. From our discussions with the youth focus groups, there appeared a strong desire to provide not only an evolutionary space, but a flexible one. To achieve a high degree of flexibility, the park was designed as a large terrace containing a myriad of different levels and planes cascading down an embankment, creating a large amphitheatre terminating at a large central performance area. Three large steel structures stand in the space. These sculptural steel forms contain sound, multimedia and lighting infrastructure including iPod connectivity, projector housing, event gantries, a basketball hoop and also provide shelter. Interspersed throughout the terraces are green zones to provide passive recreational space and visually break the expanse of concrete. Formal and informal seating is also provided for viewing and socializing.
Planning
Site works commenced in May 2008 and was completed by November 2008 for the official opening. Strong materials including concrete, steel and stone create a dramatic visual statement for this contemporary public space and ensures durability in a marine environment. Coloured concrete, exposed aggregate concrete and rusted steel combine in earthy tones during the day, but are transformed into a multidimensional environment at night by concealed red L.E.D. strip lighting under each concrete plane.
Traditional site selection methodologies were challenged, and rather than apply recreation models for a facility sitting in a public reserve where ‘like’ sporting infrastructure is normally placed, a more in-depth social model was explored. This model looked at where young people wanted to be and how the space in which they inhabit can be more engaging and be truly youth inclusive. Geelong youth were actively involved in the site selection, planning and design of the facility through focus groups, surveys, site visits and one-on-one meetings over a 2- year period. Without question, the site preferred by the group was either right in the CBD, or along the waterfront. The waterfront site was selected as the top location due to its proximity to the water, the city, shops, Deakin University and the transport hub.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles were used whilst progressing the design phase of the project. CPTED relies upon the ability to influence offender decisions that precede criminal acts. This multi-disciplinary approach to deterring criminal behaviour through the design of the built environment was particularly relevant to this site as it has limited exposure to the main street above the site (Western Beach Road). All surfaces and materials used had to be robust, not only to ensure resilience in a marine environment, but to deter vandalism whilst providing a strong aesthetic. No fencing was used to retain clear site-lines into the park and “neck to knee” clearance zones were used in all landscaped areas to provide better active and passive surveillance for spectators and users.
The project has been recognised nationally for excellence, receiving the following awards to date:
Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, Winner, “Award of
Excellence in Landscape Architecture”, Annual Design Awards
2009
Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, Winner, “Victoria
Medal for Landscape Architecture”, Annual Design Awards 2009
Cement & Concrete Association of Australia, Public Domain
Awards, National Winner Precincts
Cement & Concrete Association of Australia, Public Domain
Awards, State Winner Victoria
Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia, Victorian
Excellence Awards, Commendation.
Environments
Constructed of different coloured insitu concrete, bluestone and granite, steel forms the edge boundaries of the different levels and planes. This bold use of steel presents a confident detail to the edges and highlights the concrete banding throughout the project. The various materials were chosen to break up the expanse of the park and provide visual interest. The granite inserts required specific reinforcement to limit cracking and the steel edging and coping used to cap the edges of the insitu concrete required precise installation to mitigate the possibility of the two different compounds separating. Honed quartz-seeded insitu concrete was used as a feature and to highlight different textural nodes. Honed bluestone was used on walls with granite and concrete steps. Drainage of the entire site is hidden in slot drains of around 10mm in width along the base of each concrete plane. Drainage was an important consideration of the project. We needed to remove water from the skating surface quickly to keep the park dry and provide greater “skatability” and also provide water to irrigate the green areas.
Additionally, lighting was kept to a minimum luminosity at night as it was an important design consideration to limit night-time use of the facility. The concealed L.E.D.’s used under each plane add an interesting aesthetic, almost making it appear that each concrete plane is floating, without providing flood lighting to encourage anti-social activity after dark.
Info used from the Convic Website can be found at: http://www.convic.com/
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