A small public building in the Sydney Harbourside suburb of Balmain designed to serve a diverse community of users, from playground parents and dog-walkers in the local park to tennis players from the adjacent courts. Public amenities must be secure and safe to use, easily maintained, and built for longevity. Ideally, they also add to the public domain quality.

Designed to mediate between the park and adjacent tennis courts, the amenities offer a simple form under a skillion roof using familiar domestic elements: a corrugated steel water tank and a vintage concrete twin laundry tub, recycled as a handbasin. The white weatherboard exterior nods to the worker’s cottages of Balmain, while the skylit pale pink interior is a delightful surprise. The amenities are open to all by day, with steel gates along three sides sliding closed to secure the building by night. Rainwater harvested from the amenities and tennis shelters is used for toilet flushing and landscape irrigation.

Photography: Brett Boardman