Trinity
Wharf
Client
Ports North
Location
Cairns
Traditional Owners
Yirriganydji / Yidinji
Completion
2012
Photographer
Christopher Frederick Jones
The Trinity Wharf redevelopment is the final public area works within the Ports North precinct at Cairns.
The project involves a series of unique interventions to extend the public realm along the Trinity Inlet waterfront, completing a foreshore walkway of approximately 4 kilometres. The overall design is calculated to fit into a future masterplan for the remaining commercial zones of the land, further enhancing the use of the precinct over time. In this way, the public infrastructure leads future commercial ends for Ports North. The intention is to maximise the use and enjoyment of the precinct by the public with a predominance of open space recreational areas. The area will also provide an important link to the new cairns Entertainment Precinct to be built to the south of the Cruise Liner Terminal including the restoration of the historic Whites Shed. The existing wharf shed is reinvented a as a multi-function space for community use. The qualities of the existing shed are amplified through the treatment of external walls, and opening selected areas of the views over water beyond. The maximum amount of original fabric is retained, while upgrading the building to current structural and energy requirements. The expanse of the open wharf is retained with follies and a kiosk positioned to encourage a variety of uses and create low scale insertions into the space. These moves knit into a new foreshore parkland. The architectural language of the follies extends onto the foreshore walk, housing a range of recreational uses from treehouse to BBQ shelters. The overall project provides a new multi-use public waterfront precinct for Cairns, anchored by the refurbished wharf and shed structures. This project was completed in association with CA Architects and Cox Architecture.