The new Sydney Fish Market unites essential industry with public amenity. Its vast, undulating canopy shelters a unique vertical stacking of wholesale trade, crowned by an open-air public hall. Marking the beginning of an urban transformation of a working bay on Sydney Harbour, the building's stepped massing operates in the round with a strong civic presence.
Industrial in scale yet delicate in expression, the two-hectare roof comprises 407 pyramidal aluminium modules that peel up like fish gills, creating apertures that admit indirect sunlight. These sit within a diagonal grid of deep timber laminate trusses, supported on fine cruciform columns, so the canopy appears to float. The ensemble creates a bright, dynamic interior atmosphere, complementing the glass, stainless steel, aluminium and ceramic detailing of the building's enclosure – a material palette that reflects its technical character.
Step inside the new Sydney Fish Market
Sustainable architecture is united with operational needs underpinned by GXN, the green research arm of Danish architects 3XN (the project was designed by 3XN GXN, in association with BVN Architecture and landscape architects Aspect Studios, and delivered by Infrastructure NSW on behalf of the NSW Government). The roof is topographically mapped to harvest rainwater, meeting half the buildings’ water demands. Energy consumption is reduced as harbour breezes flow beneath the market hall roof, while daylight ensures brightness even on overcast days. The modules were prefabricated on a nearby harbour island, barged and hoisted into place; the Italian glulam timber never touched the road.
Across a 24-hour cycle, workers, visitors, seafood, and machinery move through a carefully choreographed system. In an open circulation core, travelators connect the basement delivery docks and parking to the market hall on the upper level. En route, large windows offer public views to the wholesale trading floor between, revealing early-morning operations – trolleys lined with fish, large ice machines in action and climate-controlled rooms accommodating different live crustaceans. Climatised truck lifts move products efficiently between temperature-controlled zones, loading docks and processing areas, maintaining the cold chain.
Set on the building’s perimeter, the raked, three-storey auction hall opens itself to the public realm, where passers-by can glimpse the intensity within. In the early morning, up to 160 buyers bid as the space operates as an urban theatre, where commerce becomes spectacle.
Above, an open-air market hall buzzes into the evening. Laid out across internal streets are fishmongers and restaurants, with glazed offices and a cooking school on top. Stepped terraces and ramps draw the public upward from the ground plane, creating an active public realm with 24-hour waterfront access. From these elevated platforms, views stretch toward the city, harbour and foreshore neighbourhoods, framed by the geometric roof.
On opening day, Sydneysiders swarmed the building, a testament to the market’s place in the city’s psyche. As visitors and workers moved through this building as landscape, industry met tourism, and architecture became part of the performance of the city.