River of Waste

Carrington has a rich cultural and industrial history. From fertile mudflats that were once the hunting ground for the Awabakal people has today been destroyed through the fast-tracked development of production and industry. This industry has become a segregating barrier, inaccessible and uncontrollable to the citizens of Newcastle, dominating in scale and insensitivity. The proposed project aims to mediate this segregation and deterioration through recreating the site to focus on human interaction and education. This begins with the land. Through reintroducing salt marshes back into prominent flood zones these systems will begin to manage water drainage and soil quality to reestablish the healthy ecosystem that once was present.

The project looks at the worn out, the broken down, the remnants of an obsolete industry and how they can be reshaped to become sources of material and energy to be reprocessed and reinserted back into the future life of Newcastle.

Steel artisans become the makers and recyclers that continue the process cycle of regeneration and up cycling that has been much neglected within the closure of previous industries. The building houses the production and life of the artisan, focusing on thresholds and flexible spaces that reflect their daily routines.  Everyday life becomes a series of rituals focusing on the one-to-one relationship between production, rejection and regeneration, inside architecture that educates and embodies a clean ecology.