Total Togetherness – The Gathering Place by Smart Design Studio

The Gathering Place presents an expression of complete unity, both in breath-taking form and personal connection. Smart Design Studio’s intention to construct a congruent collective between Parramatta’s existing Leigh Memorial Church and its proposed extension is informed by the grounding concept of ‘one plus one equals one’ – a theological notion that highlights the melding of total togetherness in spirit.

In forging The Gathering Place, embodying faithful values and capturing the architectural essence of the heritage church are set to actualise a form that exists in easeful harmony with its forebear. To be manifested in a communion of materials matching the church, The Gathering Place’s glorious form is to be composed of brick, sandstone, steel, glass and timber.

In navigating new built elements that will boast concave brick buttresses, gothic arches and immense entryway glazing referencing lancet windows, a celebration of select heritage features converge to fruit an evolved and refined form.

In navigating new built elements that will boast concave brick buttresses, gothic arches and immense entryway glazing referencing lancet windows, a celebration of select heritage features converge to fruit an evolved and refined form. The immensity of scale saturates interior spaces with feelings of resonant awe as vast ceilings sweep to connect curves and arcs in a display of geometric grandeur. Smart Design Studio’s abundant attention to preserving familiar silhouettes sees a resultant design that sublimely bridges tradition and contemporary creativity.

The development honours its moniker, serving as a welcome haven for Parramatta Misson’s congregation while offering street front sitting areas as tranquil respite from the bustling CBD. A focus on biophilic design harnesses the origins of the land it occupies, with reverence towards Aboriginal knowledge honoured by a bush tucker rooftop garden that includes native plants used by the Darug and other Indigenous peoples. Two trees to be planted at the main entrance will be sculpted to represent matching halves in a further nod towards coming together.

Radiantly grounded in the past yet looking to the present and future, The Gathering Place’s design is imbued with a refreshing sophistication that so aptly references its ancestral history while remaining replete with individuality and verve.