Brooke Street Pier

Innovative floating four-storey ferry terminal creating a new waterside visitor space and a community asset for locals.

All projects

Services (2)

Building Services Engineering

Sustainability

Sectors

Sport and Leisure

Infrastructure

Location

Hobart, Tas, Australia

Client

Brooke Street Pier Development Corp

Architect

Circa Morris-Nunn Chua Architects

This project re-creates the former Brooke Street Pier with a modern and innovative floating terminal for use by ferries to service facilities such as MONA (The Museum of Old and New Art) and Peppermint Bay. This new waterside tourist and transport hub is now home to cafes, restaurants, boutique retail stores, office and waiting spaces that offer visitors a unique experience between the land and the water.

To deliver the architectural vision for the building, Cundall undertook substantial materials testing to prove the viability of a translucent façade incorporating nanogel-filled polycarbonate sheeting. Solar load, energy-efficiency and thermal comfort all required detailed analysis. Our expertise in natural ventilation strategies was also instrumental in reducing mechanical cooling requirements. A seawater heating and cooling system is utilised for a low-energy heat exchange system.

"There were multiple engineering and design challenges resolved through innovation including the unique translucent façade. The performance of the exterior skin in relation to solar load control and thermal comfort was beyond the capabilities of the National Construction Code; this required some clever engineering to verify compliance through dynamic simulation modelling and materials testing process." Garrit Schot, Director.

Key fact

The building floats on an innovative concrete pontoon with a patented design so it rises and falls with the tide while remaining anchored to the seabed.

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Key fact

A mixed-mode ventilation strategy enables the building to take maximum advantage of local conditions for passive ventilation and cooling whenever possible.

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Key fact

To ensure the seawater heat exchange system is not compromised by mussels colonising within the intake pipes, collected rainwater is used to randomly flush the pipes with freshwater, a process automatically controlled by the Building Management system.

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