WESTCONNEX
On Gadigal and Wangal land at the heart of Sydney's inner west, three ventilation stacks rising from the WestConnex tunnel network beneath the Rozelle Interchange have been transformed into a major piece of living urban infrastructure. Weaving living green walls into a striking new feature of the city's skyline, the project reconsiders the relationship between infrastructure, landscape and public space.
Nearly 40 metres tall, the stacks sit above one of Sydney's most complex road interchanges, where WestConnex meets the Anzac Bridge, City West Link and Victoria Road. Designed by Studio Chris Fox and commissioned by the John Holland CPB Contractors Joint Venture for Transport for NSW, the project required the integration living systems within a complex, highly engineered structure of civic significance.
Junglefy Wall modules were integrated into the twisting steel and zinc-clad structure, introducing cascading greenery to surfaces that would otherwise remain exposed concrete. Plant species were selected to complement and extend the ecology of the surrounding Rozelle Parklands, boosting biodiversity in a heavily urbanised corridor and creating habitat connections where the city's green network had long been fragmented.
The result is an infrastructure project that demonstrates how green systems can be embedded into the built environment at scale, transforming functional infrastructure into a living part of the urban landscape.