About this Plan

This Master Concept Plan (MCP) was developed by Mark Floate on behalf of the 7 Sibley St Design Team.

The purpose of the Master Concept Plan (MCP) is to enable community discussion and decision-making in relation to the development of the site.

THIS IS NOT THE FINAL PLAN for 7 Sibley St.

In developing the MCP, the Design Team considered all the input gathered from the community at the Forum in 2012 and the Design-In in 2013, as well as Council feedback, and tried to incorporate as much as possible.

 

From these workshops and meetings, three distinct types of spaces keep recurring as ongoing ‘themes’ and these have become the basis for the areas provided in the plan.

• Learning Spaces – ‘clean space’ – reception, information exchange, display / exhibition, library, seminar, meeting / discussion, link-up centre.
• Production Spaces – ‘dirty space’ – workshops, shared tool space, community kitchen, food storage.
• Landscape Spaces – ‘garden space’ – green open space, active exercise, quiet relaxation, hard-stand areas, kitchen gardens, food security.

Particular Challenges

• Disability access – equitable, barrier-free access across the whole site, including the old skate park site
• Vehiclular access across the whole site – there will be a need to provide parking as well as delivery vehicle access and fire truck access etc;
• Parking – Council has indicated there will be a need to allocate sufficient space for parking.

Parking Allocation

There will be a need to allocate parking in order to meet planning requirements. Just because parking space is allocated, does not mean that space will be utilized all the time, however. The goal is to create areas which can multifunction (e.g. for balls games and vehicle access/parking when necessary).

Access

Access from the front of 7 Sibley St is poor due to a significant drop from the footpath to the front of the site. The best access to the entire site (inc the old Sk8 Park) is from the northern end of the old skate park, which is flat. The goal is to enable access with minimal impact upon the amenity of the old sk8 park as a recreational area, or on the new sk8 park.

 

 

 

 

 

Other Key considerations

• The main climate issue is long periods of wet weather and the need to maximise air flow and minimize dampness, so building into the ground or directly onto the ground is at this stage not preferred;
• Optimising the solar passive potential of the site;
• Optimising replicability and affordability of design – curved walls and buildings add significant expense and complexity;
• A range of diverse buildings on the site using a variety of materials – a need to link the whole site together for aesthetic and functional reasons.
• Impact on the surrounding area – next door neighbor, links to old skate park and new skate park sites, Peace Park, Community Centre, etc.

Key features of the Plan

• Curved paths and lines which join with or are sympathetic to other curved lines in the environment;
• Main building/s on two levels;
• The idea of treating the upper and lower levels of the site/building as two separate areas with their own access (i.e. so that disabled access between the two levels is not necessary. Providing this direct access would most likely involve a lift, with ongoing annual maintenance costs, for example).
• The buildings across the site linked by an ‘arbor’ – a sort of long deck/verandah which may feature e.g. green walls, vertical art spaces.
• Some buildings or parts of them to be temporary constructions which can be reconstructed as part of ongoing skills development etc.

Materials and Cost

The materials have not yet been decided upon. There is a preference for hemp and timber in particular for local sustainability reasons. A tool will be developed to analyse, asses and rank materials according to their sustainability, and this will be used to assist the decision making.

The estimated cost of the total development is around $500,000. It is likely that a staged approach will be taken to the development.

 

 

 

The Old Skate Park site – “Energy Park”

Council has indicated that the development of 7 Sibley Street should incorporate the development of the old sk8 park site (aka old basketball court).

The aim is that the old Sk8 park site will link 7 Sibley St with the new Sk8 Park and Peace Park.

The ultimate goal is for the site to be as multi-function as possible and retain green/open space in the village to facilitate a variety of community activities and purposes in the long term.

The site will ultimately accommodate and range of interactive equipment which will meet the following purposes:

• Providing outdoor exercise and fitness opportunities; 
• Generating kinetic energy to be used to power innovative elements of a life-scale game which will be part of a larger game which will progress along the Nimbin Walking Track;
• Generating kinetic energy to demonstrate various aspects of renewable energy generation, use and technologies in an entertaining and engaging way.

In this way the site will link the existing skate park and peace park recreational area, with the Sustainable Living Hub which has a strong renewable energy focus.

 

 

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