Brisbane-based architect Kirk has put forward another option for a main stadium for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics and Paralympics with its Gabba West solution.
Kirk said it had the opportunity to present the proposal for a new 60,000 seat ‘Gabba West’ stadium to the Brisbane 2032 – 100 Day Review Committee.
The proposal looks beyond the 2032 Games, delivering Brisbane a modern stadium while utilising the existing Gabba Stadium for warm-up tracks and expanded spectator events.
At the conclusion of the Games the historical site would be returned to the city to deliver over 2,500 apartments, community green space and expansion of the East Brisbane State School by 2042.
The 2032 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXV Olympiad and also known as Brisbane 2032 or the abbreviation Bris2032, is an upcoming international multisport event scheduled to take place from July 23rd-August 8th, 2032 with Brisbane in Queensland (Australia) as the main Host City.
The Kirk proposal taps into the site’s generous transport infrastructure, seamlessly integrating with the Cross River Rail and South-East Busway while being within a 15-minute walk of 8 major central rail and busway stations including Southbank, Kangaroo Point and the CBD, the company said.
It is not constrained by tunnel infrastructure, allowing future residential, commercial and public developments to proceed unimpeded with the historical Gabba Park at their heart.
We see a new Brisbane Stadium as a City Shaping opportunity – leveraging key infrastructure and reinvigorating an unrealised central Woolloongabba precinct.
Richard Kirk, founder and director of Kirk, said: “The proposal demonstrate(s) that Gabba West, the Government owned land to the west of the existing stadium, is a sensible solution for the Brisbane Olympic Stadium.
“Gabba East is the site currently occupied by the existing stadium, while Gabba West maintains and enhances the Gabba precinct as our primary sporting and events hub whilst also harnessing the almost complete Cross River Rail Woolloongabba Station.
“Gabba West is a compromised site, with the CRR and Clem 7 tunnels below, and is well suited to redevelopment for a stadium structure that is light and flexible. Gabba West is a site that is already degraded (it’s not pristine parkland), it has the greatest concentration of transport infrastructure in the city centre with four rail stations nearby and the busway and metro.
“Almost half the world plays cricket – the Gabba is a byword for world class sporting events for over 100 years – why change?”
Kirk said their proposal to effectively duplicate the Gabba avoids the emotional issues of vacating East Brisbane State School and the displacement for cricket and the AFL.
It also notes that plans for a new venue in Brisbane’s Victoria Park had “a number of fatal issues” including isolation from existing major transport networks and noise next to one of the city’s major hospitals.
In December last year, design and consultancy organisation Arcadis set out the case for a new stadium to serve as the centrepiece of Brisbane 2032.
The Arcadis Victoria Park Precinct masterplan includes a 60,000 seater stadium, an 18,000 seat National Aquatics Centre, as well as the Brisbane Live/Arena project.
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