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Atop an arrow-shaped community center designed by Adjaye Associates, an expansive perforated steel canopy by indigenous Australian artist Daniel Boyd filters refracted light onto a public plaza in Sydney. Inspired by notions of shelter and placemaking during both the country’s colonial period and the present day, the new building and plaza offer passersby a reprieve from the city’s hustle and bustle and a connection to the area’s origins. The timber-and-steel community center, whose form references the pitched-roofed houses of the early settlers, includes a café, a vaulted gallery, and an indoor/outdoor viewing platform. Suspended from a series of trusses and supported by a steel column, the 9,800-square-foot rectangular overhang is composed of 72 panels, punctured with mirror-lined circular apertures that create a cosmic mosaic on the pavement below. “It provides a space of contemplation and diversity for a multiplicity of experiences and narratives currently extending back 60,000 years,” says the artist, who is of Kudjla/Gangalu descent. “Acknowledging that we can never fully comprehend our past or future is the first step in reconciling differences of perception.”

Photos © Trevor Mein, click to enlarge.