New Sydney Fish Market

The old Sydney fish market was the third most popular attraction in the city, drawing three million visitors and shoppers a year, even though it was housed in a decrepit factory with few amenities. The city authorities wanted to upgrade the operation, enhance its appeal, and strengthen the link between downtown and this bayfront attraction, a 20-minute walk away. They selected a site alongside the old market: a concrete jetty formerly occupied by a cement mixing plant, squeezed between a park and the water. To realize the new facility, they picked a team not a scheme. 3XN and their strategic sustainability consultancy GXN presented a set of concepts and then, after winning the competition with BVN Architecture and Aspect Studios, developed the design – in sharp contrast to the Sydney Opera House, where the vision preceded the analysis.

Wholesale markets like Covent Garden in London and Les Halles in Paris were once a source of civic pride, nobly housed, but as traffic increased they were condemned as a messy disruption and banished to a remote location. No longer can tourists rise before dawn to wander through the Fulton fish market in New York or the Tsukiji in Tokyo. But in Sydney, 3XN GXN, in association with BVN Architecture and Aspect Studios, have created a sustainable civic icon that serves all its users equally well, segregating the different functions physically, while uniting them visually.

The new Sydney Fish Market is built out over the water and supported on 481 piles. A rectilinear 65,000 sq. m box is extensively glazed on the landward façades to showcase the trading floor and the process of unloading, cleaning and displaying the fish. Steps give the public access on all four sides. A bay-front walkway flows past the building, rising to access the second level where fish is retailed and served in restaurants at the periphery. A grid of pedestrian streets guides visitors around, and two voids offer glimpses down to the...

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