An exhibition at the Museum of Sydney unearths several failed design proposals for Australia’s most populous city.
Comprising designs, sketches, models as well as documentary footage, the Unrealised Sydney exhibition offers insights on an era of post-war utopian thinking in planning, as well as controversial schemes for contested areas of Sydney.
“The years after WWII saw complete replanning of precincts, not just buildings, on a scale that increased into the 1960s,” said guest curator Robert Freestone, professor of planning at the UNSW School of Built Environment. “Alongside the proclaimed technological and social advancements came serious community resistance for the first time in Sydney.”
Dino Burattini & Assocs 1990 Bennelong Centre Project proposal.
Image: City of Sydney Archives, East Circular Quay Redevelopment Project Records
The exhibition focuses on eight precincts: the Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay, The Rocks, the Museum of Sydney, Macquarie Street, Woolloomooloo, Darling Harbour and Barangaroo. It includes competition entries, unsolicited proposals, and design challenges.
“Ideas for new buildings and precincts reveal a lot about the time of their conception - the economic and political influences, technological advances and insights into our society and environment,” said Adam Lindsay, CEO, Sydney Living Museums and NSW State Archives.
“Unrealised Sydney takes a look at the many visions that did not come to fruition and offers a thought-provoking reflection of what the city of Sydney may have become.”
The exhibition will also include an interactive experience where visitors can design their own city block.
Unrealised Sydney is free to attend and will open at the Museum of Sydney on 6 August until 13 November.
