The Fernery, Royal Botanic Gardens

Leisure Project
Sydney, NSW, Australia

The Botanical Gardens received a bequest specifically for the purpose of the construction of a shadehouse to accommodate and display to the public their collection of ferns, fiddleheads and fronds.

At about the same time an architect in Altius Project's employ, John Barbacetto was completing his final year dissertation and major project at the UTS and his subject was great shadehouses of the Victorian era with a specific modern example of a design for a shadehouse in the Royal Botanical Gardens, Sydney.

To progress his brief and the design he sought assistance from the then director of the gardens, Professor Carrick Chambers and the resulting design was the product of their close consultation and collaboration.

Some few months subsequent to the submission of John's dissertation, Altius Projects were rung by Professor Chambers asking us if we would be interested in developing the design with a view to having it built. The budget, as was made clear, was very tight, being the limit of the bequest, a figure then of about $375,000.

Having said yes, Altius Projects set about the detailed design. Steel was chosen for all the above-ground structure and shading battens because of its high tensile strength, ability to span large distances and its ability to be bent and curved to shape.

The finish to the steel was a major issue due to the fernery's proximity to the harbour and its salty environment plus the issue of what effect there would be to the plants having water running off the structure onto them.

Galvanising the steel was considered and rejected as was a chlorinated rubber finish because available research had indicated that there might be a deleterious effect on the plants.

The final decision was to grit blast the steel back to "white" and then quickly give it a base coat of epoxy primer. A number of epoxy finishing coats were then applied. In addition, the structure was designed to shed water at its periphery, thus minimising the amount of water dripping onto the plants. The choice of this finish has stood the test of time and is performing as well as new.

Part of the brief was to maintain and protect 2 original convict-built stone walls which form a long side wall and end wall to the shadehouse.

The project was finished on time and to budget and opened to the public on the advertised date.

The project was a finalist and runner up in the NSW Steel Industry Awards.

Project Value
$375,000