What if future cities didn’t just stand still but actively gave back - regenerative, adaptable and deeply connected to First Nations culture. That’s the design vision behind Hassell’s First Building for Bradfield City Centre in Western Sydney, Australia’s newest city in over a century.

“Bradfield City Centre is one of the biggest economic development projects ever undertaken in Australia,” Ken Morrison, CEO Bradfield Development Authority and AMRF Chair says.

“The First Building’s innovative design sets the benchmark for a vibrant, modern city that will build a stronger future for Western Sydney. Housing the Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility, it will also strengthen the Australian manufacturing industry and create new opportunities for high value jobs and a stronger economy for the people of Western Sydney.”

Designed by international multidisciplinary design firm Hassell, the First Building, housing Stage 1 of the Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility (AMRF), will foster innovation through its adaptability, design circularity and connection to Country.

As the first completed building in Australia’s first new city in 100 years, this milestone marks a step forward in the New South Wales State Government’s vision for a dynamic future in advanced manufacturing and innovation. The unique workplace will incubate innovative manufacturing projects and demonstrate the real-time progress of Australia’s newest sustainable, connected city.

“As Bradfield City Centre takes shape, the First Building is a bold statement about what’s possible. It sets a strong benchmark for how Bradfield will develop – great design, sustainable and honouring Country. It’s more than a building — it’s a living example of how we can transform our cities and our lives,” says Liz Westgarth, Hassell Managing Director and Principal in Charge of the project.

Inspired by the Cumberland Plain and the area’s natural waterways, the structure is open, inviting and surrounded by green spaces where residents, workers and visitors can gather.

Embodying the principles of circularity and adaptability, the building is fabricated as a modular ‘kit of parts’ and designed to be disassembled, expanded, or even relocated – ensuring it is resilient and responsive to the evolving needs of the future city.

“A kit-of-parts construction that can be reconfigured and reused ensures the building’s longevity and responsiveness to Bradfield’s future needs, representing the city’s commitment to adaptability and circularity,” says Westgarth.

The building is designed to sit softly on the land, using a colour palette and materials that blur the line between built form and nature. Natural materials, including rammed earth and recycled tiles, paired with systems designed to minimise waste and extend the life cycle of resources, reinforce a commitment to sustainability and circular economy principles.

Informed by First Nations cultural research and design agency, Djinjama, the First Building is a project deeply embedded in Country, honouring its location on the Cumberland Plain by creating a harmonious connection between built and natural environments.

As an industry, we need to ask ourselves a hard question: why are we still producing the same unsustainable buildings?

“The First Building proves that you can innovate, that you can create something extraordinary for a public, government project. It’s time to move forward, to embrace new ideas and to show that sustainability and great design belong together. And the First Building is our proof,” says Westgarth.

Serving as a catalyst for high-value jobs, skills development and collaborative partnerships between industry, government and academia, the First Building embodies Bradfield City Centre’s future-focused ambitions, where the built environment and nature come together to create a dynamic space for all to thrive.

“We’ve made ambitious commitments to sustainability and resilience in Bradfield. First Building, designed to address climate impacts now and into the future, is just the beginning,” says Morrison.

Images: Hassell's Bradfield City Centre’s First Building / Mark Syke and Vinchy Wu

Clémence Carayol

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