INNOVATIVE PAVING DESIGN
26 Feb 2014
Adbri Masonry’s Trihex® pavers have been used to give Sydney’s Wet’n’Wild water park a unique and visually dramatic ‘tide lines’ effect.
In the summer of 2013, Sydney welcomed the opening of one of the world’s most advanced water parks, Wet’n’Wild Sydney. The new waterpark features more than 40 slides and attractions, including some of the tallest and fastest water rides in the world.
Landscape architects Site Image, building contractors Lipman Pty Ltd and paving contractor Sam The Paving Man were commissioned to develop all hard pedestrian areas of the new fun park, which is expected to attract over 900,000 visitors each year.
The $115 million ‘beach within reach’ of Sydney’s south west encompasses an innovative landscape design with non directional pavers reducing visible straight lines, cumulating in a stunning visual effect of ‘tide lines’ around the parks.
Adbri Masonry’s Trihex® pavers were supplied in seven specially selected, Made To Order (MTO) colours, which were laid in a unique pattern to create the visual effect of a tide line left in the sand from a receding ocean.
Adbri Masonry’s Trihex® was selected due to its non-directional shape, so when laid in mass, there were minimal straight lines, adding to the ‘tide lines’ effect. The project only featured one straight paved line, with all subsequent layers curving around various pathways of the Wet’n’Wild site. Over 23,000m2 of Trihex® and Brickpave pavers were supplied and laid by hand for all pathways within the park.
Adbri Masonry’s Contracting Services Team created a 100m2 sample paved area to assist Site Image, Sam The Paving Man and Lipman Pty Ltd visualise the unique paving design and explore how different design elements would work together.
Commenting on the project Tim Charles from Site Image said, “The project utilised Adbri Trihex® and Brickpave in all seven colours in a sinuous organic mix. Darker colours were used at lower levels rising to lighter hues at the upper levels of the park. The universal pattern emulated the tidal wash lines of flotsam and jetsam that you can see on any Sydney beach after the tide has come and gone. Body paver colours transitioned at the ‘tide lines’ in a random natural manner.
“As large scale paving projects go, Wet’n’Wild Sydney was right up there with the most complex. Logistics were a major factor but in the end Sam The Paving Man and Lipman Pty Ltd paved their way from top to bottom, in curves and complex colour and pattern changes with excellent results.”
The project faced very tight time frames to produce and deliver product to the Sydney project site, with onsite paving starting mid-October and rapidly finishing by the start of December 2013 to catch the start of the summer holiday season.
