Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia

Blending cultural, community, and administrative functions under one roof and reflecting the vibrant, diverse nature of the local community Manuelle Gautrand’s Phive Civic Center is a modern architectural project that reimagines civic spaces.

The architect has created an exceptional public and cultural facility, the ideal place where all inhabitants will be able to discover, learn and share.

For its innovative design, the Phive Civic Center has been awarded a 2024 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The architects have dreamed an unexpected triangular shape, sculpted with the sun course in a smooth and polite way, to let the sun throughout the year brighten up the esplanade, which runs along their building.

Inside this sculpted volume, the result is a cascade of levels facing the square in a sort of giant amphitheatre.

All floors are stepped, one upon the other, so that each of them, like a balcony, gets a piece of the view on the esplanade.

The square becomes a stage itself, which fosters a strong relationship with all these inhabited terraces. And the whole building becomes a sort of theatre. The envelop, which is both a roof and a façade, is made of hundreds of folds that open successively to the square and the sky, to the west and the east views, expressing the uniqueness of this public and cultural building. It is a very sustainable skin, a sort of filter that gives a poetic atmosphere to the project, outside and inside.

The colthe is an important issue in their project, as it helps improving the attractivity of this public architecture.

The architects have chosen a range of reds, an unexpected colthe which contrasts with the all-around buildings.

The result is a large array, beginning with a dark red on the lower part and accompanying the vertical movement with paler colours, up to the sky.

In fact, these colours are inspired by the Australian soil, plants, and animals.

They are powerful and memorable colours which reinforces the magnet rule of the project in the city.

The ground floor is really the continuity of the esplanade, a sort of urban foyer or urban living room, a flexible place with a concierge, some visitor services, a café and cultural activities.

In the interior distribution, the higher you climb the more the rooms become slender and intimate: progressively, when users will go up, they will find smaller spaces, cultivating a calmer atmosphere, dedicated to smaller groups or individual work in a quiet atmosphere.

At the top, you can find the council chamber room, which seems to float above the townhall.

A cantilever helps this magnificent program to reinforce the link with the existing townhall.

Project: Phive Civic Center
Architects: Manuelle Gautrand Architecture
Lead Architect: Manuelle Gautrand
Associate Architects: DesignInc and Lacoste + Stevenson Architects
General Contractor: Built Pty Ltd.
Client: City of Parramatta
Photographers: Sara Vita, Brett Boardman, and Nils Koening