Matthew Drury Michael Longworth Steven Masters Ross Mills Nexus Gosford’s city centre has long sat stagnating with little human or commercial activity. It sits dormant for the majority of the day, with large, unsightly car parks reserved for Sydney commuters dominating much of the ground and skyline. In order to reverse this trend and create a brighter future foAAr the city, Fluid Interchange proposes moving Gosford’s train station 200 metres south to the site of the current Gosford city car park, to create a new public transport hub with a stronger connection to the city’s waterfront and bushland. This new transport hub will become a vibrant, ecological and water sensitive, civic space that will re-activate the commercial core of the city. The impervious nature of the site and needs of commuters led to the investigation of the sites hydrological values, movement, circulation and porosity.
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The hydrological flows of the site and surrounding areas drove the design process, creating porous interventions where humans and water can move through the space effortlessly. Organising these spaces for water and humans to move efficiently, enabled the establishment of larger planted areas where original flora and fauna can reclaim space that they once occupied and share it with the more recent inhabitants, humans. Creating a stage for the sites original ecological and hydrological systems to flourish will ensure that this underperforming city centre can be reborn. Fluid interchange will demonstrate how a synthesis of urban and natural systems can create a high performance civic space for Gosford.