Precinct Masterplans

Melbourne Park, Victoria 

Principal Consultant:  RWA Sports Architecture 

RWA is currently collaborating Tennis Australia to create a visionary masterplan for the Championship Court Ladder at Melbourne Park, home to the Australian Open Grand Slam. This strategic study looks at how to reimage the tennis viewing experience.  Rather than traditional seating allocation in fixed grandstands, the proposal looks to provide multiple spectating options depending on whether spectators prefer to stand, sit or simply pass through. Viewing multiple tennis courts at once is another pioneering concept tested by the Masterplan study. The innovative concepts proposed by RWA aim to put Melbourne Park and Tennis Australia at the forefront of the evolving sport and entertainment industry whilst creating new revenue streams. 

 Eagle Farm, Queensland

Principal Consultant: RWA Sports Architecture

The redevelopment of Eagle Farm Racecourse includes major refurbishment to the existing grandstands and patron areas. Many of the grandstands are heritage listed requiring a sensitive design approach to preserve and showcase these unique buildings as part of the redevelopment. The John Power Stand will undergo a significant refurbishment to improve patron areas and solve a number of operational issues within the existing building. A similar approach is envisaged for the refurbishment of the adjacent Paddock Stand and Members Stand. New horse float parking areas will allow visiting horse floats to load and unload within close proximity to the existing day stalls and parade ring.

 Caulfield, Victoria

Principal Consultant: Hassell + NH Architecture + RWA Sports Architecture

RWA teamed up with Hassell Studios Melbourne and NH Architecture to create an ambitious 20-year masterplan for the Caulfield Racecourse to deliver MRC’s vision for the site. The redevelopment seeks to cement the venue as a world class racing, event and recreation facility for members, guests and the local community to enjoy for generations to come. Major changes are proposed to create state-of-the-art facilities including grandstands, horse stalls, mounting yard, arrival areas and public realm. With the addition of a second racetrack and opportunity for lighting, the venue will provide a completely new world-class horse racing experience that celebrate the ‘theatre of racing’. A new multi-purpose event facility provides competitive offerings to host more diverse types of events, both during and outside of racing season.

City of Casey, Victoria 

Principal Consultant: NH Architecture + RWA 

This Masterplan document is part of City of Casey’s forward vision for the phased development which will include an evaluation process of the existing facilities and an assessment of the ongoing operational requirements of the Casey Fields AFL Precinct during match days and non-event days. The redevelopment will improve the safety and comfort of patrons and promote Casey Fields as an AFL venue and major local community facility for local football leagues and other major outdoor events. As a Category 2 venue, Casey Fields will be used for three or more regular season AFL home & away matches each year as well as regular AFLW matches.  This will require upgrades to spectators, players, officials and media facilities.  When the Masterplan is complete the venue will have a capacity of 15,000 spectators.

Carrara, Queensland

Principal Consultant: Populous

Engaged to perform architectural services as an employee of Populous: Ralph Wheeler

As a founding document to the construction of award winning Metricon Stadium, the masterplan investigated how a new 25,000 seat stadium could be built on the underutilised Carrara Stadium site.  The masterplan envisaged that the stadium could be built in a series of construction stages to achieve the redevelopment objectives and anticipated funding allocation.  A important part of the masterplan yet to be built is the creation of a permanent public transport interchange to encourage use of event day bus and train services. This includes a pedestrian bridge over the adjacent road to shuttle bus connections between the stadium and the nearby Nerang train station and Surfers Paradise.

Tennyson, Queensland

Principal Consultant: Populous

Engaged to perform architectural services as an employee of Populous: Ralph Wheeler

This masterplan was prepared for Stadiums Queensland to investigate the potential future development opportunities for the Queensland Tennis Centre at Tennyson, Queensland. The primary objective of the masterplan is to understand how the existing facility could be expanded in size to meet future spectator capacity expectations, particularly in light of the success of its flagship event, the Brisbane International. The masterplan investigates the possibility of expanding the tennis facilities to cater for a site capacity of 15,000 patrons. Whilst this may not be achievable at the outset, it is envisaged that the masterplan could be implemented using a series of construction stages to achieve the redevelopment goals.