Project Description

The Harrington Collection revitalizes The Rocks, returning daily life to its streets and laneways with intimately scaled open spaces and staircases surrounded by homes, workplaces, and shops. Each residential building is uniquely designed to emulate the local streetscape rhythm while complementing the varied scale of significant heritage buildings. The penthouses adopt a contemporary aesthetic while the active rooftops offer private and communal terraces. The commercial use component brings the community back into Cambridge Place, layering retail, neighborhood services, and residences.

The brief for The Harrington Collection was to reinvigorate this significant heritage precinct and celebrate its unique character while maximizing its view and amenities. To achieve this goal, it was also critical to provide a pedestrian connection from the shoreline to the ridge of The Rocks. fjcstudio created a series of homes, workplaces, and shops that surround intimately scaled open spaces and welcoming staircases, reflecting the way life lived in the area for centuries, including pre-colonial.

The scale and form of each building were carefully considered to emulate the local streetscape rhythm, responding to the eclectic mix of buildings nearby while maximizing amenities and view of Sydney's icons. The aim was to reconnect the precinct to its surroundings and celebrate the unique character of The Rocks. The street-facing townhouses were designed to match the size and form of neighboring cottages, while the horizontal rhythm of the townhouses echoed the varying widths of the workers' terraces across the way. The design team incorporated contemporary versions of the stoop typology along the street, adding to the diversity of the neighborhood's architecture. To Harrington Street, apartments turn their orientation to the view and take advantage of the village streetscape.