The Ark / Coca-Cola Place

Located in North Sydney, the concept behind the iconic Ark structure at ‘The Ark’ now ‘Coca-Cola Place’ is a set of layered elements responding to the surrounding heritage Mary MacKillop group of buildings and streetscape, the natural environment and the city skyline.

Place Design Group were appointed by Investa to undertake full landscape architectural services for the streetscape embellishments and public domain interface improvements for their award-winning commercial building ‘The Ark’ (now Coca-Cola Place), under the jurisdiction of the North Sydney Council. The landscape design involved treatment of landscape components within the foyer under croft areas and the upgrade of the public spaces surrounding the building, as part of the CBD upgrade program.

The end result includes a significant site specific language reflecting the historic and landmark nature of the development while reinterpreting the site references in the form of large steel and timber planters doubling as public seating around existing trees, feature planting, heritage pavement detailing and sculptural screening elements. Of note is the Ark’s public forecourt which occupies the site of the old Telephone Exchange and takes not only its plan form, but its volume from the size of the former building. The ground level areas have been designed to integrate with the heritage streetscape and provide a public forecourt as an interactive space and an ‘art wall’ has been included to engage pedestrians and tell the story of the history of the area.