Barangaroo
From container terminal to nightlife: Sydney’s waterfront conversion project
Wulugul Walk in Barangaroo with the new landmark, the 272 meter high skyscraper The Crown.
© Till Bartels
People now stroll where rusty containers were once parked, and the skyscraper The Crown is 271 meters high. It is Sydney’s newest highlight.
Sydney is even closer to the water. Not only on Circular Quay, the Rocks district and on the peninsula with the Opera House. Beyond the ramp to the famous Harbor Bridge signals the Top of what is now the tallest building, The Crown, that there is more to come. Past the Sydney Observatory hill, we continue east along the waterline, a reasonable walk towards Darling Harbour.
A 20-minute walk under the Harbor Bridge past Walsh Bay leads to Barangaroo Reserve, Sydneysiders’ new recreation park. The green of the 75,000 planted trees, bushes and flowers still looks fresh. Because until 2005 there was still industrial wasteland not only here, but also everywhere along the bay further south.
The transport of goods by rail, which was no longer possible, put an end to the former freight transport – the container port moved further south, to Botany Bay. A master plan for the new use of the 22-hectare area for the 21st century had to be drawn up.
From fallow to consumer district
Since before colonization the land belonged to the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, the new neighborhood was named after the 18th-century Aboriginal woman Barangaroo – a person famous for her resistance to the colonialists.
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The symbol of the new area of the major investors is the address One Barangaroo and a 271 meter high glass tower rotated by 60 degrees with expensive apartments, the five-star Hotel Crown, nine restaurants and a casino. With the iconic design by architects Wilkinson-Eyre, the city has received another landmark that has helped define the skyline since its completion in the middle of the 2020 pandemic.
“The project was a nightmare for the builders because of the curved geometric design,” says Chris Remlo of the Crown Towers. “All of the 8,801 panes of the facade are unique, individually calculated and manufactured in Korea.”
Lunch break at the waterfront in the east of the city: view from the Wulugul Walk onto the ferry docks.
© Till Bartels
Barangaroo – Sydney’s new nightlife district
Right next to it, the cranes lift parts of the façade for other high-rise buildings into the sky. However, the wide footpaths and roughly a kilometer long waterfront promenade leading to the Sydney Sea Live Aquarium are now complete and lively.
As in other places in the world, a former port area has been transformed into a consumer mile with 90 shops and restaurants, which are frequented by the employees in the surrounding offices during the lunch break and by the locals in the evening.
If you strike up a conversation with Sydney insiders, what they miss most of all is affordable housing in the new district. After all, the connection through the ferry docks to other parts of the city is excellent. Barangaroo metro station is scheduled to open in 2024.