MSK's Sandor Duzs’ proposal for the Design Our Ryde competition envisions a vibrant mixed-use civic precinct centred around a new public plaza. The development combines community facilities, council offices, retail spaces, and 410 residential apartments to create a lively urban destination connected to surrounding streets, transport, and the shopping centre. A distinctive “floating pebble” council chamber marks the civic heart of the project, while rotated residential towers maximise views, sunlight, and privacy while helping mitigate surrounding traffic noise. Sustainable façade systems incorporating photovoltaic glazing support improved environmental performance.
MSK's Sandor Duzs’ proposal for the Design Our Ryde competition envisions a vibrant mixed-use civic precinct centred around a new public plaza. The development combines community facilities, council offices, retail spaces, and 410 residential apartments to create a lively urban destination connected to surrounding streets, transport, and the shopping centre. A distinctive “floating pebble” council chamber marks the civic heart of the project, while rotated residential towers maximise views, sunlight, and privacy while helping mitigate surrounding traffic noise. Sustainable façade systems incorporating photovoltaic glazing support improved environmental performance.
MSK's Sandor Duzs’ proposal for the Design Our Ryde competition envisions a vibrant mixed-use civic precinct centred around a new public plaza. The development combines community facilities, council offices, retail spaces, and 410 residential apartments to create a lively urban destination connected to surrounding streets, transport, and the shopping centre. A distinctive “floating pebble” council chamber marks the civic heart of the project, while rotated residential towers maximise views, sunlight, and privacy while helping mitigate surrounding traffic noise. Sustainable façade systems incorporating photovoltaic glazing support improved environmental performance.
Our proposal for the Design Our Ryde competition presents a vision for a contemporary civic precinct that brings together public space, community facilities, residential living, and transport connections within a cohesive urban environment.
At the heart of the project is a new civic plaza that acts as the central gathering space for the community. The plaza collects pedestrian movement from surrounding streets, the adjacent shopping centre, car parking areas, and the bus interchange, creating a vibrant public destination within the centre of Ryde. A multi-level community centre anchors the plaza, providing meeting and activity rooms together with a flexible event hall that connects to the public space through an amphitheatre stair, enabling both indoor and outdoor events.
Street-level retail activates the ground plane and strengthens the urban edge along the surrounding streets. Above, council offices and administration spaces occupy the lower levels and can also accommodate incubator-style workspaces, contributing to the civic life of the precinct. A semi-public concourse along Devlin Street introduces winter gardens, meeting rooms, and breakout spaces, creating an active interface between the building and the public realm.
The development includes five residential buildings accommodating approximately 410 apartments. Three residential towers rise above the podium with elevated communal outdoor spaces, while two lower-scale residential blocks define the south-western edge of the site. The towers are carefully rotated to increase building separation, enhance privacy, maximise city views, and allow sunlight to reach the civic plaza.
A distinctive architectural element — the Council Chamber — is positioned on the corner of Devlin Street and Blaxland Road as a sculptural “floating pebble”, symbolically bridging the civic plaza and the residential towers while expressing the role of local government within the community.
The architectural form also responds to environmental and urban conditions, helping to mitigate traffic noise while maintaining openness and permeability through the site. Advanced façade systems incorporating ventilated double-skin elements with photovoltaic glazing contribute to energy efficiency and improved environmental performance.
