New York’s High Line to Sydney’s Goods Line precinct

Transformation of a former railway line into a cross-city pedestrian corridor linking Sydney’s City to Harbour.

ASPECT Studio with CHROFI is collaborating together on the design of The Goods Line for Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. The Goods Line is a linear spine that connects a number of diverse city neighbourhoods, from Central to Surry Hills, to the harbour via the Darling Harbour Precinct. The spine stitches together a unique concentration of cultural, media and educational institutions forming a civic space rich with latent potential.

Beyond its connectivity function, The Goods Line will respond to a shared desire to connect and collaborate that exists amongst the stakeholders – Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, University of Technology, Sydney, Powerhouse Museum, The ABC, TAFE – Sydney Institute, and the City of Sydney. The Goods Line is conceived as a public platform for interaction, co-curation of events and exhibitions.

The revitalisation is expressed via a singular move. The laying of a new datum, a precast concrete ‘figure’, onto the existing railway corridor, articulating the site’s history and concurrently telling the story of today. These precast concrete panels form the paving, edges, steps, benches and seating as an integrated prefabricated piece. They are a re-tooling of an industrial element to a social purpose using digital fabrication process.

A corridor once energised by the movement of industrial goods will be re-energised with people and the exchange of ideas, marking the transformation from industrial infrastructure to social infrastructure.

http://www.chrofi.com/project/the-goods-line