Archello Awards · Winners Announced
Archello Awards 2024 · Winners Announced
Archello Awards 2024
Winners Announced
Warragamba Dam

Warragamba Dam

lahznimmo architects as Architects

lahznimmo architects and Spackman and Mossop Landscape Architects formed a joint venture (LNSM) to provide the Sydney Catchment Authority with architectural, urban design and landscape services for the preparation of the Warragamba Dam Masterplan. The first part of the commission involved preparing a new master plan for the entire Warragamba Dam site which was required after the major intervention works of the new $500 million auxiliary spillway. The second stage involved the design and of the major components of the Master Plan, including the Visitor Information Centre and Operations Complex and various ancillary structures, landscape works and roadways.


Between 1998 and 2002 an auxiliary spillway was constructed at Warragamba Dam to protect the dam wall and divert excessive flood waters. The construction of the new spillway sliced through the end of the existing Haviland Park, severing its connection to the dam wall and creating a shear sandstone cliff face some 25m high. The Visitor Centre and Operations Complex (VOC) are sited at the end of Haviland Park, perched on the edge of the newly created cliff face to take advantage of the spectacular location overlooking Warragamba Dam.


The building has two addresses – the first to Haviland Park and the second to the spillway and dam wall. From the Haviland Park side the landscape is emphasised and the building is downplayed and recessed from the park level, allowing the existing vista through Haviland Park to be maintained. The landform is reformed to gently rise creating a new “green” horizon line at the end of the vista. From the cliff side however the building is more expressive and hovers dangerously on the edge of the cliff face, with a series of public viewing platforms stepping down the precipice on the rock shelf levels.


The entrance to the VOC is announced by a simple precast concrete box which pops up above the landscape as well as a gigantic “Valve Assembly” from the original valve house. The descent into the building is via a ramp, which arrives at a partially cantilevered Forecourt with views over the Spillway and Dam.


The building comprises two key components. The first is a Visitor Information Centre with a multi purpose education room and exhibition component. The Centre is open to the public as well as catering to large groups of school children and is a key element of the Sydney Catchment Authority’s public education strategy. The second major component is the Operations Complex, which contains the Sydney Catchment Authority’s Communications Unit; Bulk Water Operations and Catchment Operations teams.


Warragamba Dam Master Plan Works are a family of structures of very different program and scale - all tied together by the need to interpret, visit, manage and preserve the public grounds surrounding the Warragamba Dam. This is both a working environment, where the responsibility of managing the catchment that supplies Sydney with its water, and a place for recreation and education. A network of roads, bicycle and pedestrian paths link the structures in a spatial and hierarchical relationship that resembles a small village or university campus. At the heart of the site is the heritage listed Haviland Park which reads as a formal village green. Surrounding this are the less formal structures of picnic shelters, barbecues and public amenities. On axis at the end of Haviland park is the Visitor Centre and Operations building.

Project Spotlight
Product Spotlight
News
Fernanda Canales designs tranquil “House for the Elderly” in Sonora, Mexico
12 Dec 2024 News
Fernanda Canales designs tranquil “House for the Elderly” in Sonora, Mexico

Mexican architecture studio Fernanda Canales has designed a semi-open, circular community center for... More

Australia’s first solar-powered façade completed in Melbourne
12 Dec 2024 News
Australia’s first solar-powered façade completed in Melbourne

Located in Melbourne, 550 Spencer is the first building in Australia to generate its own electricity... More

SPPARC completes restoration of former Victorian-era Army & Navy Cooperative Society warehouse
11 Dec 2024 News
SPPARC completes restoration of former Victorian-era Army & Navy Cooperative Society warehouse

In the heart of Westminster, London, the London-based architectural studio SPPARC has restored and r... More

Green patination on Kyoto coffee stand is brought about using soy sauce and chemicals
10 Dec 2024 News
Green patination on Kyoto coffee stand is brought about using soy sauce and chemicals

Ryohei Tanaka of Japanese architectural firm G Architects Studio designed a bijou coffee stand in Ky... More

New building in Montreal by MU Architecture tells a tale of two facades
10 Dec 2024 News
New building in Montreal by MU Architecture tells a tale of two facades

In Montreal, Quebec, Le Petit Laurent is a newly constructed residential and commercial building tha... More

RAMSA completes Georgetown University's McCourt School of Policy, featuring unique installations by Maya Lin
10 Dec 2024 News
RAMSA completes Georgetown University's McCourt School of Policy, featuring unique installations by Maya Lin

Located on Georgetown University's downtown Capital Campus, the McCourt School of Policy by Robert A... More

MVRDV-designed clubhouse in shipping container supports refugees through the power of sport
9 Dec 2024 News
MVRDV-designed clubhouse in shipping container supports refugees through the power of sport

MVRDV has designed a modular and multi-functional sports club in a shipping container for Amsterdam-... More

Archello Awards 2025 expands with 'Unbuilt' awards categories
9 Dec 2024 Archello Awards
Archello Awards 2025 expands with 'Unbuilt' project awards categories

Archello is excited to introduce a new set of twelve 'Unbuilt' project awards for the Archello Award... More