Timber stadium proposed for new, relocated Gabba
The architect pitching for a timber venue across the road from the existing stadium says it’s an Olympic solution “hiding in plain sight”.
The proposed ‘Gabba West’ stadium, across Main Street from the existing Gabba.Credit: Kirk Studio
A new Gabba, built right across the road from the old cricket ground, could break records as the world’s largest timber stadium.
Architecture firm Kirk Studio’s proposal appeals to the International Olympic Committee’s sustainability strategy by using renewable construction material.
The result would be a 60,000-seat “Gabba West” stadium across Main Street from the existing Gabba, above the new Cross River Rail station site.
In its submission to the Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority’s 100-day infrastructure review, Kirk Studio says Brisbane 2032’s stadium solution has been “hiding in plain sight” all along.
“Beyond addressing the Olympic stadium’s requirements, Gabba West offers a long-overdue solution to the city’s most critical transport nexus, resolving traffic issues that have persisted since Brisbane’s foundation,” Kirk Studio says in its GIICA submission.
“This site has long posed a challenge for the state, with viable redevelopment efforts failing to materialise. The constraints of the site, however, make it uniquely suited for a stadium development.
“Additionally, Gabba West is already an active construction site, allowing new development to commence immediately – potentially even before the completion of the Cross River Rail project.”
Speaking to this masthead, architect Richard Kirk said using timber would make Gabba West one of the most environmentally friendly stadiums in the world.
“The commitment made in the bid for the Olympics is that it would be six-star Green Star, and a core part of that is we should be replacing up to 40 per cent of the structure with renewable materials,” he said.
“And the only renewable building material is timber.”
The 60,000-seat stadium would be made of timber.Credit: Kirk Studio
Kirk said the timber structure could be prefabricated off-site to reduce construction time.
“Australia’s got an excellent timber industry and if they’re given enough lead time, they can invest in the scale that they need, they can invest in the technology they need, to do a project of this order,” he said.
“Everyone always looks at these projects as a just a city-building legacy, but there’s an industry-building legacy as well.”
Using timber would also reduce the stadium’s weight – allowing it to sit more easily, from an engineering perspective, above both the Cross River Rail and Clem7 tunnels.
Most master-planned stadiums have a longer walk to and from mass transit stations, to allow for better crowd dispersion and prevent crushes.
People walk at different speeds, so a 500-metre walk, for example, will thin the crowd before they get to their destination.
Gabba West would be virtually on top of the station, which Kirk conceded presented some issues.
But he insisted none of them were insurmountable, particularly if crowd dispersal was considered not just as a horizontal problem, but also a vertical one.
“With a bit of design work, the Cross River Rail proximity and dealing with it in section, not just in plan – that is, treating the movement vertically, not just horizontally – gives you that total dispersal,” he said.
“In fact, it’ll be the only stadium where you can arrive without getting wet – that’s a very tropical solution.
“So sometimes these things that appear to be negatives can end up being attributes.”
The planned Woolloongabba Cross River Rail station.Credit: Cross River Rail Delivery Authority
And given the Gabba’s proximity to bars and restaurants – something Victoria Park lacked – not everyone would be going home at the same time.
“You can create a destinational precinct where people can spend time and linger, which is precisely what you want to do,” Kirk said.
“You don’t want 60,000 people to leave straight away, because the benefits of these events aren’t the ticket sales, they’re the activities that happen around that.”
Kirk said the concept came to him a couple of months ago, as he drove past the site.
“Design can happen pretty quickly,” he said.
Central to Kirk’s thinking was keeping the Gabba in Woolloongabba.
Queensland v New South Wales at the Gabba in 1909.Credit: Archive
“It’s a mistake to move the sporting DNA out of its home,” he said.
“It just made so much sense that if you could keep it somehow, by making it work within the existing precinct, there were enormous benefits, like the transport, like the fact that it’s already owned by the public.”
The proposal would require some land resumption across the road on Vulture Street, which would be rerouted to the north.
“You’re not going to find a pristine, empty site for a 60,000-seat stadium just waiting to be discovered in Brisbane,” Kirk said.
“It’s going to be something that you’re going to have to create and you’re going to have to orchestrate, in effect, by being clever.
“How do you reorganise the traffic system? How do you expand your land holding?
“The amount of land that we’re talking is tiny – it’s a lot less than what they acquired to build the Brisbane South [State Secondary College] up in Dutton Park, so it’s quite modest in the scheme of things.”
A potential stumbling block? One of those properties is the heritage-listed St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral.
Kirk suggested it could be relocated without losing its heritage value.
“Queenslanders know you can move a timber building easily,” he said.
“I think we can find a new home for that. I don’t think the siting was particularly important to its listing and I think the value proposition outweighs trying to preserve it in that current location.”
Comment has been sought from the St Nicholas parish.
Kirk Studio told GIICA the Gabba West proposal would enable the “Gabba East” stadium to remain operational until after the Olympics, allowing cricket and AFL to keep playing without interruption.
It’s Games time: The Gabba West proposal would keep the existing Gabba for Brisbane 2032, where it could be used as a warm-up track and overflow arena.Credit: Kirk Studio
During the Games, Kirk Studio suggests Gabba East could serve as a warm-up facility for competing athletes – negating the contentious original plan to repurpose the nearby Raymond Park – and as a media centre and overflow venue.
That would allow up to 100,000 people to attend the opening and closing ceremonies.
Post-Games, the old Gabba would be demolished, to be replaced with housing and a park.
“In Legacy Mode, Gabba West and Gabba East will operate in synergy, forming a unified precinct that enhances both functionality and urban vibrancy,” Kirk Studio says in its submission.
“This integrated approach allows for seamless connections between the two areas, with the newly proposed street in the Gabba East precinct acting as a critical link.
“The introduction of Gabba Park plays a pivotal role in this integration, offering a more sustainable, green space that enhances the precinct’s livability. Gabba Park mirrors the shape of the original oval from the 1970s, paying homage to the site’s rich history while providing a modern, multifunctional space.”
As for other proposed locations for an Olympic stadium, Kirk Studio says the Victoria Park proposal “presents a number of fatal issues”.
“The site is isolated from most of the existing major transport networks,” it says in the submission.
“Using existing green parkland to build a stadium means it will not meet the strict six-star Green Star rating obligations to not use greenfield land.
“Ultimately a noisy stadium and excited crowds next to one of Brisbane’s major hospitals will be a perpetual issue – sickness knows no time of the day.”
Kirk Studio says former premier Steven Miles’ pick, the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, was also unsuitable.
“The QSAC site is large enough, however is almost totally void of any major transport networks and amenity,” it says.
As for the cost, Kirk said it was not possible to “get anywhere close to what’s an accurate figure” but the fact it was already state-owned land would help keep prices down.
“It should be looked at from the other direction of what are the long-term benefits in doing this? And a lot of this renewal work that needs to happen with this project needs to happen at some point,” he said.
“Reorganising the road network around the Gabba is necessary. Connecting the Gabba with South Bank’s a necessary piece of work that has to happen. Increasing housing in the Gabba is necessary.
“That’s when you know that a project makes sense, when it harnesses all the issues into one pot, and it hopefully leads to an outcome that solves many issues, not just the Olympic dilemma.”