A contemporary award-winning makeover for an Australian and international icon enhances the...
- Client
- Blacktown City Council
- Project Partners
- Michael Cohen, Chris Fox, Shay Tobin (Artists), Savills (Superintendent)
- State
- New South Wales
Indigenous inspired, brilliantly realised.
Delivered for Blacktown City Council with support from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, ‘Timeflows’ is a stunning new public artwork near Angus Creek at the Blacktown International Sports Park in Western Sydney. Designed by Michael Cohen, Chris Fox and Shay Tobin and brought expertly to life by FORGE, the original artwork celebrates Ngurra, or Dharug Country, and explores the history of land and water through interwoven strands of time. The artwork itself is big –stretching almost 21 metres from end to end and featuring three monolithic arches with the tallest reaching 7.4 metres high.
‘Timeflows’ is the third high-profile project FORGE has delivered for Blacktown City Council in recent years following our award-winning collaboration with CHROFI at Dawson Mall in Mount Druitt and the equally heralded B.E.S.T. physical literacy space at Blacktown International Sports Park delivered in partnership with Architectus, Savills and Buildcorp.
While FORGE delivered the physical structure, the ‘Timeflows’ project extends beyond the built form. A short film by First Nations filmmaker Dayvis Heyne captures interviews with local custodians, exploring their understanding of time, Ngurra, and the significance of the work.
Our involvement.
Having successfully delivered several other highly complex and creative public structures for Blacktown City Council, FORGE was entrusted as the specialist design and delivery partner to bring the ‘Timeflows’ artwork to life.
Working closely with the artists themselves and key Council stakeholders, our initial involvement was to explore a variety of materiality and construction options to ensure the original design intent was able to be accurately and safely realised within the project budget and timeline.
Once the final direction was approved, FORGE was then appointed after a competitive procurement process to lead the manufacturing, pre-assembly and installation phases of this unique public realm project.
Design Challenge
The imposing scale and unique nature of the 'Timeflows' artwork presented many creative challenges for the FORGE design team. At the heart of them all, it was imperative to detail and specify each structural element in a way that preserved the deep cultural significance of the original design which examines Ngurra (Dharug Country) in terms of durational landform change and the long-term inhabitation by First Nations people for over 47,000 years. Walking beneath them, each of the three arches speaks to a different era while also reflecting the continuity of the Dharug people. We achieved this through close collaboration with the artists, together with painstaking design detailing and material selection.
Construction Challenge
Large in scale yet intricate in nature, each of the three sculptures within ‘Timeflows’ was meticulously formed from CHS structural sections to deliver a uniform profile. Materiality choices and attention to detail during fabrication process was critical given the need for the final artwork to have high torsion and bending resistance properties. The key structural sections were formed and painted off-site in controlled conditions before being carefully transported to Blacktown International Sports Park for final installation.
Innovation
Accurately delivering the artists’ creative vision called for painstaking attention to detail and design innovation. Through our collaborative process the FORGE team was able to provide certainty at every stage, allowing the project to be realised exactly as intended. As just one example, the forms of the three arches were generated using advanced computational modelling of local geological and topographic site data supplied by Studio Chris Fox – and then rationalised by FORGE into a buildable structure.
Features
- 3 x intertwined tubed arch sculptures (ranging from 5.8 metres to 7.4 metres high)
- Colour palette informed by local Indigenous cultural cues (Pale Ochre, Venetian Red, Homebush Red)
Materials
- Rolled CHS structural steel
- 3 Coat Dulux Paint System
- Concrete footings
Safety & Risk Considerations
The project featured numerous safety considerations, both in the design and construction phases. Given the large and irregular forms of the structures, the arches were intentionally created as smaller, easy-to-handle sections using jigs that also became their transport cradles. The bulk of the fabrication and pre-assembly work was able to be carried out at ground level without the need for elevated work platforms.
Given the proximity to Angus Creek, careful site planning was required to ensure smooth access for all equipment and crews and a hassle-free installation with no contamination risks to the surrounding habitat.
Lift studies were also conducted to enable safe picking, carrying and positioning of the individual sections. This was achieved using a versatile Maeda ‘spider’ crane which allowed each lift to be approached from different angles as required for the intricate installation. The public was diverted safely around the work zone throughout.
