M4/Homebush Bay Drive, Olympic Site, Sydney, NSW, 1994

M4 Intersection with Homebush Bay Road

This project, although never realised, represented a milestone for the Roads and Traffic Authority in NSW.

Situated adjacent to the Olympic site, this intersection, coupled with Parramatta Road, holds the key to stormwater drainage entering the Olympic site.
Combining the ideas of Public Art, Landscape Architecture, ESD and freeway engineering, the concept sought to purify stormwater from major surrounding suburbs, which enters the already polluted Olympic site.

The scheme collected and pumped this water into a descending wetland before it re-entered the Parramatta River and Sydney Harbour.

The pumping systems, enabling this machine to be driven, were to be powered by one of the largest solar sculptures in the world. Three, 30 meter, cantilevers of Photo-voltaic cells formed an elegant machine in scale with the M4 Freeway it fronted.

This was certainly a synthesis of road engineering, art and landscape which intended to “heal the wound” of a poisoned environment.