Union Hotel Roof, North Sydney, 1998-99

"Parasite" is a roof and wall structure, which operates at the level of Art/Architecture. The structure forms a room and balcony area over the restaurant extension (Cracknell Lonergan designed) below. The main structure is a complex steel frame supporting a series of curved and warped roof shells interlaced with glass and cloth.

As a form it bites into the 30's structure of the Union Hotel and clings to the ground inside the courtyard. Growing from this position it surges towards the north splintering the light with glass, shade cloth panels and zincalume clad wings. These materials combine the flesh-like fragility of cloth with the idea of "exoskeleton" in the shells and steel. As a form it shields a variety of hideous buildings from view and favours the northward street address.

The "parasite" is working on a private/public building to further open it to public space. Viewed from the street it appears to turn the building inside out - revealing social information to the public realm.

It is analogous to the growth of a large fig tree. Unlike the pursuit of a minimalist modernism, it shows the struggle of structure through space.

"Parasite" critiques structural efficiency. The architecture of the roof expresses the difficulty of spanning and covering the balcony area. It does this with sinuous steel frames and shells which cleave open and shatter into fragments as the roof grows from the courtyard. The complexity of the transition of these forms to the building is facilitated by the use of cloth webbing. This combination of skin-like cloth and steel forms an integral part of the exoskeleton metaphor. The client wanted an exuberant and celebratory space for social interaction and conversation. "Parasite Roof" acts as a catalyst for this discourse.