The Drying Green
Sumitomo Forestry’s Australian landscaping subsidiary Regal Innovations was awarded the Australian Good Design Award, Gold Winner, for the design and construction of The Drying Green, an urban park in Sydney. Source: Timberbiz
This is the first time a Sumitomo Forestry Group company has been selected as a Good Design Award Gold Winner in Australia. In addition to the park’s origami-inspired design, the award recognized the environmentally conscious use of technology, design proposal and construction skill.
The Australian Good Design Award is an international design award celebrating its 65th anniversary this year. It evaluates and recognizes outstanding designs of projects, products, fashion and other in 11 design disciplines and 30 design categories.
The Drying Green was selected as a Gold Winner in the Architectural Place Design discipline. The Council of the City of Sydney, the design company McGregor Coxall and Regal were joint winners of the award.
The Drying Green is a 6,200 m2 urban park located in Sydney in the heart of Green Square’s urban regeneration zone. Since its opening in October 2022, more people relax and enjoy in Green Square, one of Australia’s fastest growing communities. McGregor was contracted by the City of Sydney for the planning and basic design, and Regal was contracted for the design and construction.
The entire site has a three-dimensional topography of mountains and valleys that create folds like origami. This design blocks views and noise from outside the park while capturing warm winter sunlight into the grassy areas. In addition, green walls set off large areas to create comfortable green spaces. The park utilizes Regal’s expertise and experience in green construction, including technologies that supply adequate oxygen to plant roots, and innovations in efficient construction and maintenance.
The park also features environmentally conscious renewable energy, namely solar panels installed on the shade structure of the barbeque area to fuel the artistic lighting. In addition, there are waterways to protect against flood damage. They temporarily store rainwater that overflows from rivers and sewers due to urbanization, where ground surface is increasingly being covered with concrete. This water is filtered in the waterways and underground and re-circulated throughout the site.
The park site was originally a large marshland, but with the growth of the economy, it was reclaimed and used as land for the wool industry. The water cycle system is intended to recreate the natural environment of the former wetlands and symbolize the ecological restoration of the City of Sydney and Green Square.
