Redefining the conference experience

With the International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) having just past its 12 month anniversary, Michael Lockwood and Richard Breslin, of Populous, have reflected on the design elements key to this and other large civic buildings is helping to redefine the conference experience.

In a Blog on the Populous website the pair explain how, as far back as 2003, Populous created a program to test new ideas for convention and exhibition venues.

Through workshops and asking questions and listening to industry leaders, meeting planners, facility operators and convention and visitors bureau staff, the global architecture firm set out to understand the expectations all the users of our building type have for design.

Here they established three clear trends: occupying the edge, maximising experiential moments and creating transparent development.

Occupying the edge refers to the need for convention centres to integrate with surrounding city landmarks, to offer delegates unique and authentic opportunities within a destination.

Maximising experiential moments highlights the importance of designing unique social spaces that draw people in - they don’t want to miss out on the latest ‘places to be’.

Creating transparent development means designing these large facilities in a delicate manner in order to catalyse district growth instead of creating a building that focuses solely on itself.

The pair see that the new ICC Sydney encapsulates these trends and sets the new global benchmark for the design of convention and exhibition centres.

Breslin, Populous Senior Principal, and Joint Architecture Director for ICC Sydney, explained “everyone’s eyes are on Sydney ... from a convention and exhibition point of view, ICC Sydney has put Sydney on the map, and we’re getting a huge amount of interest from colleagues from other venues overseas asking us about this venue - what’s different, how it’s pushed the boundaries and so on.”

It was 2011 when Populous first started discussing the project along with joint venture design partners HASSELL.

The HASSELL + Populous team produced more than 80 different concepts before the tender documents even came out.

Lockwood comments “at the heart of all of those concepts - including the final design - was the belief that the buildings should not just facilitate focus and learning, but also encourage the guest to explore and engage with the local community. In other words, the buildings must also sell the entire destination, not just itself.

“The days of the introverted ‘black box’ convention centre are over. Delegates want to be able to connect with the city they are visiting. Guests are no longer comfortable with starting and stopping their lives to attend a conference or participate in an event. Instead of providing ‘more contiguous space’, we aim to provide a ‘contiguous experience’ that connects the ‘space’ to the ‘place’ – integrating the guest within the destination as a whole.”

The meeting room pods on the façade of the ICC Sydney Exhibition Centre are a stand-out feature of ICC Sydney, neatly fit the ‘occupying the edge’ trend and help create that contiguous experience.

While they can be browned-out during a meeting, when the meeting is done, the blinds can go up and the doors open up to the park and the city beyond, enabling guests to have a much more enriching experience.

Another feature that uniquely connects guests with the city is the outdoor ‘Event Deck’, an extension of the ICC Sydney Exhibition.

Of course, not every city has the good fortune to have Sydney’s weather to enable an outdoor meeting space, but for Sydney an ‘Event Deck’ made sense, and we think a similar outdoor space will work for future venues around the world.

Being open to the city beyond is a recurring theme in the design of the three buildings which comprise ICC Sydney. Whether through floor to ceiling windows in the ICC Sydney Theatre, the meeting pods on the façade of the Exhibition Centre, or the balcony and gallery outside the Grand Ballroom which sits five storeys up, atop ICC Sydney, with 270 degree view of the city and the harbour - rather than hidden in the bowels of the building, as so many ballrooms have traditionally been located.

Lockwood adds “another noteworthy feature of ICC Sydney is the concealed loading dock – in fact, it’s so well concealed at ICC Sydney I think many people might not know it’s there.”

By gently leaning the Exhibition Centre back, and folding the landscape up to the second floor, the loading dock at the front of the building has effectively been concealed.

By deftly incorporating so many current trends shaping conference centre design, ICC Sydney looks set to be referenced and copied around the world for years to come.

Populous has designed nearly a million metre² of convention centre space across seven countries, with construction value of $4.1 billion.

HASSELL + Populous were joint venture design consultants for ICC Sydney. A NSW Government project, ICC Sydney was delivered in partnership with Darling Harbour Live, comprising Lendlease, Hostplus, First State Super, Capella Capital, AEG Ogden and Spotless FM.

20th December 2017 - ICC SYDNEY MARKS MILESTONE 12 MONTHS OF OPERATIONS

2nd December 2017 - ICC SYDNEY LAUNCHES INNOVATIVE LEGACY PROGRAM

30th November 2017 - ICC SYDNEY WINS FURTHER ACCLAIM WITH TRIPLE AWARD WIN

8th October 2017 - POPULOUS OPENS JAPAN OFFICE: REVEALS DESIGN FOR NEW BASEBALL PARK

13th September 2017 - DOUBLE AWARD WIN FOR ICC SYDNEY AT AUSTRALIAN HR AWARDS

12th July 2017 - MORE ACCOLADES FOR ICC SYDNEY 

7th July 2017 - POPULOUS EXPLAINS HOW TECHNOLOGY WILL TRANSFORM FUTURE STADIUM EXPERIENCES

30th May 2017 - ICC SYDNEY LIGHTS UP DARLING HARBOUR DURING VIVID SYDNEY 

1st May 2017 - STUDY SHOWS ICC SYDNEY AS AN INNOVATION DRIVER

7th April 2017 - ICC SYDNEY AWARDED AS AUSTRALIA’S BEST INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT 

27th January 2017 - POPULOUS DESIGNS TRAINING CENTRE FOR HEBEI CHINA FORTUNE FOOTBALL CLUB 

12th December 2016 - NEW ICC SYDNEY PRECINCT OFFICIALLY OPENED BY NSW PREMIER