Parasitic orchids of zinc mesh shroud the cooling towers of this brewery conversion in central Sydney
In order to facilitate the ultra-dense conversion of a former brewery site in Sydney, it was decided to install a small ‘trigeneration’ power plant. This uses gas to produce electricity, hot water and cooling, and will eventually supply all the buildings in the new Central Park district. The generation plant itself is located underground beneath the former boiler house, one of the few bits of the brewery left standing; however, the design of the cooling towers, which could not be hidden, presented a challenge. This has been tackled by attaching them to the roof of the old building, where, shrouded in zinc mesh, they cling like some kind of parasitic orchid. The nearby brick chimney, another industrial relic, has been reused as the exhaust flue for the plant.
