Exotic Spice Alley a winner for taste buds and urban design

Sydney’s Kensington Street Spice Alley buzzes with activity and exotic smells from morning till late at night. The mini hawker lane is a slice of SouthEast Asia at the inner city’s Central Park, and has become one of Sydney’s most popular eat-streets.

Celebrated as Sydney’s first “lane” to rival Melbourne, the project, as part of a Kensington St revamp, recently won Turf Design Studio the DrivenxDesign’s Gold Award for Urban Design. The award celebrates creativity and innovation in the process of designing and shaping cities, towns and villages, and the connections between people and places, movement and urban form, nature and the built fabric.

Turf collaborated with the late Danish landscape architect, Jeppe Aagaard Andersen on the project, along with Frasers Property, developers Greencliff and Tonkin Zulaikha Greer. Turf and Andersen were tasked with reimagining the public domain of the Carlton United Brewery site at Broadway in Chippendale.

Presenting the Award, DrivenxDesign said: “Turf Design Studio with Aagaard Andersen have created a refined public domain that merges infrastructure and history through an interconnected network of new streets, lanes, parks and plazas, including the road connecting Broadway to Regent Street, links to Carlton Street and Central Park and the micro-laneways of Spice Alley.

Kensington Street has transitioned from slum to sought after destination, Turf says.

“Originally part of Tooth and Co brewery’s 6.5 ha ‘mini-city’ established in 1835, Kensington Street’s transition from its industrial beginnings into a sought-after retail, entertainment and dining destination illustrates the power of placemaking, and the impact quality public spaces have on building communities and revitalising cities.”

Turf says the Kensington Street project offered immense possibilities - a built fabric comprising some of Sydney’s oldest workers' cottages, terraces and warehouses. The studio's task as landscape architects and urbanists was to build on the street’s unique story.

Spice Alley is celebrated as Sydney’s first “lane” to rival Melbourne’s laneways.

Terrace facades have been restored; a significant initiative in retaining the heritage value of the street. This provided the foundations for frontages to spill out onto the street and provide a streetscape that is activated day and night by conversation, creative hustle and culture, Turf says.

“Connecting through brick- lined walkways between the built form, backyards of the period terraces have been converted into a continuous back alley market, known as Spice Alley. The alley cleverly permeates the heritage fabric, evolving to serve the desires of the Chippendale community.

As landscape architects and urbanists Turf says its challenge was to reimagine the street, balancing old with new, while activating the streetscape to capitalise on the area’s changing demographic.

“The street’s revamped physical connectivity and integration of cars within a pedestrian-focused environment underpins the success of the project, enhanced by the innovative paving plan and restored heritage fabric.

“Kensington Street is now a vibrant new public place. The street celebrates its rich past through its resurrected built form and unified public realm, creating a flexible and multi-purpose space that can adapt to its evolving community.”