the dolphins
I could feel the rumble of the engines
Vibrating through my feet
reversing
Slowing the cruisers drift to the wharf
In front of Harbourside Festival Marketplace in Sydney
Now stationary
We all walked to the bow of the cruiser
Champagne in hand
This event had been three years in the making
Laurie Brereton
the former Minister of Public Works responsible for shepherding the construction of Darling Harbour and the Monorail through to completion
prepared to do the honours of presenting a sculptural marque of dolphins to the 10 key members of the team that brought the idea to life
the sculptural masque was of a sculpture that was to be in front of Harbourside
but it was stopped by the taste police on the Darling Harbour Authority
as a commemoration of the event
I had organised the marques with the team and Doug Hurr
An American sculpture involved with Doug Michels in the Ant Farm
A public art group during the 1970’s
Which was responsible for the Cadillac Farm
The Cadillac Farm being
The burying 10 Cadillac’s nose down into the desert in Amarillo Texas
Charting the decline of the tail fin
An analogy to the decline of the American dream
I was totaly unaware that I was to be awarded 1/10 of the marque’s
It was a complete surprise
As I stepped up to receive my marque
In the illustrious company of Jim Rouse
The inventor of the Festival Marketplace
Tom and Ian Hayson
who were the inspiration behind the bid for a Festival Marketplace in Darling Harbour
together with other members of the team
Bob Perry, David Humphries and Rodney Monk of the public Art Squad, Pat Gocher, Gary King, just to mention a few
It was a long journey
Beginning with the Hayson’s meeting with Laurie Brereton in Baltimore
When he was on his world discovery trip to benchmark Darling Harbour against similar harbourside rejuvenation projects internationally
Over lunch
As the story goes
Tom produced a masterplan sketch that had been prepared by Clark Perry Blackmore
To illustrate how a retail complex could be introduced into Darling Harbour Master Plan
The current state planners only wanted parks and museums
With little to activate the foreshore
After seeing the Festival Marketplace in Baltimore
Brereton was convinced
Resulting in an open tender being announced
Which the Hayson Group won
Using Jim Rouse’s ,the Rouse Company
as the figure head
Clark Perry Blackmore (CPB)
Being an architectural company of only 8 people
Were to work with the American Retail Design Company RTKL
Documenting their design in Sydney
CPB having no experience in running large projects employed me
to head up the documentation team and work on the design with RTKL
with the design lead of Bob Perry
an inspirational part of the project was the commitment of $2 million
to a Public Art Programme under the Art Management of the Public Art Squad
involving over 40 artists from all over Australia and internationally
which I Project Managed together with David Humphries and his team
Starting off a design workshop in Sydney with RTKL
I then travelled to Baltimore
Spending 6-8 weeks at a time
Working out of hotels and the RTKL offices in Baltimore and San Francisco
Working up a design with RTKL
Which eventually I had to present to the Darling Harbour Authority
Which I was reluctant to do
As I did not like the Americanisation of the design
Bob Perry and I had already bounced around design possibilities that would have pushed the envelope a lot further
While in the US on one of my trips
I had dinner with Jim Rouse and Myrtle his wife
In their house in Columba Maryland
A city designed by the Rouse Company
Jim Rouse
An American entrepreneur in the real sense of the word
And a real gentleman to boot
With a deep social sense of responsibility
Who taught me a lot about retail
Jim coined the idea of a Mall in America in 1958
Building 65 Malls over time
he then saw that the homogenisation of the Mall was decimating the city centres
moving in 1976
to the construction of the first Festival Marketplace to rejuvenate the city centres starting with Faneuil Hall
So Harbourside was his first venture overseas
The RTKL design was presented and went ahead
But the Hayson Group, particularly Pat Gocher, were not happy with RTKL’s performance
They were eventually put off the job
CPB picking up the entire project including the interior design which was led by Bob Perry
With an enthusiastic young design team
CPB changed it’s name and brought on new Director’s
Expanding to a company of 85 at one point over a 3 year period
before sliding backwards in the 1991 down turn
It was the high light of my professional career
As I learned so much
The dolphins have become embattled over the years
Just like me!