Connecting Grounds - Green Square project

 

Robyn Backen Artist with Observatorium, Dr. Laura Fisher & Mackenzie Pronk Architects

 

Connecting Grounds was a proposal for the City of Sydney public art program for the Green Square redevelopment. Robyn's proposal consists of seven hubs dispersed across the entire suburb. Sculpted from bronze, wood, concrete, stone and brick, they will be environments in which to linger in solitude or with companions, or incongruous spaces that perplex and invite investigation. These hubs will be scaled to the human body, harnessing the capacities of sensorial engagement – sound, touch, movement and presence – to foster spatial literacy of the precinct. Each hub will be situated within the journey path of cyclists and pedestrians: at intersections, departure points and places of rest. Knitted together with ribbons of green, they will serve as navigational icons that punctuate a meandering traverse of Green Square’s natural and civic spaces. Their form and material will elicit the past uses of their respective sites. Some will playfully serve a useful purpose others poetic oddities.

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Mackenzie Pronk Architects continued our long relationship with Artist Robyn Backen having worked as her architect and assistant on several of her public artwork projects since 1998. Our working relationship is characterized by an open studio approach with rigor, laughter, robust dialogue and hours spent drawing together. We have developed, documented and overseen the construction of Robyn's work offering our complimentary skills to help realize her visions.