Convic designed and constructed Adelaide Skate Park secures top architecture prize

Adelaide City Skatepark – an Olympic standard sporting facility designed and constructed by Convic and cleverly built into the site’s natural landscape of the western Park Lands - has secured the City of Adelaide Prize in the 2023 SA Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architecture Awards.

The Adelaide City Skatepark beat a field of five finalists to take home the prestigious award. • Dymocks Heritage Store by Grieve Gillett Anderson • Adelaide City Skatepark by Convic • Frangipani House by Architects Inc • 83 Pirie Street by Woods Bagot • ‘One: all that we can see’ (a public artwork on Lot Fourteen) by Sundari Carmody

Completed in September last year, the new city skatepark was a $3.8 million joint initiative between the City of Adelaide, the South Australian Government and the Federal Government in Gladys Elphick Park / Narnungga.

The new facility is a street style space, with stair sets, grinding rails, ledges and a large bowl featuring a unique vertical cradle. It also incorporates a designated area for beginners, which includes a mini-bowl, to encourage more families to the area.

The Adelaide City Skatepark is an example of a destination youth-focused facility with urban design qualities which push the boundaries of what a contemporary skate park can be. The design embraces Adelaide’s urban fabric and represents its various layers through clever material and colour references within the skate park design. The Adelaide City Skate Park responds to Adelaide culture and the surrounding Park Land environment, celebrating youth and making it a place for a wide range of skaters to enjoy.

The entire space is illuminated by nine floodlights to enable the public facility to be safely used at both day and night, while the area was sympathetically designed around the existing significant trees in Gladys Elphick Park / Narnungga to provide natural shade cover and valuable greenery.

City of Adelaide Acting Lord Mayor Phil Martin said the City Skatepark has become an incredibly popular community facility since its completion and shared “the skatepark was an important partnership between the City of Adelaide and the State and Federal Governments, which not only created a new home for skateboarders in this state but also activated a key site within the Park Lands.

“As well as attracting the best skateboarders from across Australia, it’s also a space that encourages people of all abilities to be active in the city.

“This state-of-the-art facility has been cleverly built into the site’s natural landscape, retaining the gentle slope, mature trees and native feel which makes the Park Lands so important.

“The City of Adelaide Prize is about supporting the creation of extraordinary public spaces that engage the community and all the finalists in this category have made significant contributions to our city’s aesthetic and experience.”

The six-person jury also awarded a commendation to 83 Pirie Street by Woods Bagot. Dymocks Heritage Store by Grieve Gillett Anderson was awarded the People’s Choice Category winner as voted by the South Australian public. The City of Adelaide Prize Jury for 2023 comprised of:

• Councillor Henry Davis (City of Adelaide)

• Sue Phillips (Phillips/Pilkington Architects)

• Nathan James Crane (DIA)

• David Bills (PIA)

• Janelle Arbon (AILA)

• Sarah Feijen (Guildhouse)

The prize was established by Council in 1997 to recognise and award a project that enhances the public experience of the City of Adelaide. The City of Adelaide Prize is currently managed on behalf of Council by the SA Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects and is presented as part of its annual awards program.

For more information visit cityofadelaide.com

For more information on Convic and the Adelaide City Skatepark 

Image top. Credit: AILA SA Australian Institute of Landscape Architects; image above: Credit: City of Adelaide