A Sydney architecture studio spent nearly a year developing a new oyster shell terrazzo for a pavilion in Sydney’s Barangaroo, designed as a public place of gathering right on the harbour.
Founded by Peter Besley and Jessica Spresser, Besley & Spresser found historical precedents in “tabby concrete”, which is made from crushed or burnt oyster. However, tabby concrete does not express the shape of the oyster: “Using whole oysters and expressing this in the material is rare and much harder to do,” says Peter Besley. “It took us over a year of experimenting and testing to get it working as we wanted, and we had to certify it uniquely ourselves.”
There is a poetry in using oyster shells for architecture in a location where large quantities of oysters are consumed. And this is nothing new – Sydney was traditionally a place of feasting on oysters for the Cammeraygal people of this area, evidenced by the large middens that early Europeans recorded in this area.
The building’s shape responds to the geometries of the area’s coves and peninsulas, and is situated alongside sandstone blocks that make perfect seating, while on the pavilion’s roof is a lush green garden.
Colonnades, with repeated slender columns and a circular oculus in the roof, create a place for visitors to shelter and meet, and the building also can host events, with a servery and bar, and complex sound and lighting controls. “We gave the pavilion a distinctly civic feel,” says Peter. “All are welcome here.”
But the most impressive thing about the pavilion is the material itself, which is made of a mix of oyster shells and aggregates. Testing was also difficult as separating the oyster flesh completely from the shell is not easy. In the finished building, around 450,000 Sydney rock oysters were used, and around half a million if you count the shells used in the material testing.
“The Pavilion references human gathering by the sea through its use of recycled Sydney Rock Oyster shells. We wanted to pay respect to the long history of oyster feasting in the area, and to celebrate the use of a recycled material in the public realm,” says Jessica Spresser.
More on Besley and Spresser
