Allan Border Oval Pavilion
Architect: Archer Office - Tomek Archer
Contractor: Reitsma Constructions Pty Ltd
Construction completed: May 2024
Allan Border Oval Pavilion opened and statue unveiled
Mosman-raised cricket legend Allan Border returned to his namesake oval for the official opening of a new state-of-the-art pavilion and statue unveiling on Saturday 11 May 2024.
Border was joined by another former Australian cricketer and captain, Ian Chappell, for the occasion, along with Mosman Mayor Carolyn Corrigan and Councillors, members of local sporting clubs and key personnel involved in the pavilion project and bringing the statue to Mosman.
The state-of-the-art pavilion and grandstand form part of a new-look sporting and community facility, designed to meet contemporary requirements for sports, while being accessible to diverse user groups and respecting the heritage legacy of Mosman Park.
The bronze statue captures Allan Border playing a graceful cover drive. It is a likeness to a Border statue at Queensland’s The Gabba, reproduced for Mosman with permission from the artist Linda Klarfeld.
Progress Photographs:
Progress completed this week:
- Completed installation of all ground floor sliding doors.
- Completed turfing, mulching and planting throughout the landscape.
- Completed commissioning of passenger lift.
- Completed final paint touch-ups to all metal work structures throughout.
- Completed final fit-off of light fixtures,
- Completed installation of joinery desks, cupboards and wall panels throughout.
- Completed installation of handrails, tactiles and stair nosing's.
- Completed installation of statue onto base.
- Completed installation of external light posts and bollards.
- Completed installation of metal sinks and hooks within both changerooms.
Tradition meets Innovation - Evolution of the Allan Border Pavilion
The new building consolidates multiple requirements into a single, shared community facility that addresses both the traditional built context and the technical requirements for a contemporary sporting venue. An analysis of historic and contemporary precedents showed that similar facilities were often served by two separate building types, being a grandstand and a club house respectively. The proposal combines these two sections into a hybrid type, unified beneath a singular roof.
The new building is the fourth pavilion on this site and references the pitched roof form of previous pavilions. In order to create a pitched roof, while meeting contemporary expectations for column-free views to the field, this innovative roof design is supported from the centre like an umbrella. Carefully coordinated gutters and downpipes collect the water around the roof perimeter and guide it back into rainwater tanks beneath the building, to be used for irrigation and flushing toilets.
In this way, a traditional presence is delivered through technical innovation, to create an open and inclusive communal umbrella for the park, beneath which all the various community functions play out.
- Tomek Archer
View a timelapse of the project from the very beginning:
