The Gold Coast Indoor Arena at Carey Park is envisioned as a dynamic civic landmark that merges architecture, landscape, and culture into a unified public destination. More than a performance venue, the project is conceived as a layered, living structure—one that responds to Country, invites community, and adapts to a broad range of cultural, recreational, and urban uses.

The design is anchored in the concept of “eruption”: a fragmented architectural form that appears to rise from the ground, referencing tectonic processes and symbolising the release of cultural and civic energy into the surrounding parklands. This language of fragments—expressed through canopy forms, landscape thresholds, and pedestrian corridors—allows the building to visually and spatially blend with its environment.

Developed through an inclusive and iterative design process, the arena prioritises accessibility, cultural integration, and environmental performance. Planning and concept testing diagrams explored fluid movement, flexible programming, climate-responsive massing, and cultural activation. The final scheme offers adaptable spaces that support large-scale events as well as everyday community life—such as market plazas, recreational nodes, and interpretive landscapes.

The architectural form is deeply integrated with its surroundings, using seasonal planting, green infrastructure, and layered thresholds to dissolve the boundaries between building and landscape. Circulation is intuitive, flowing around and through the arena to create a series of gathering spaces that remain active beyond event hours.

Material selection and spatial planning are driven by both functionality and identity—ensuring durability, clarity, and a strong connection to place. The result is a civic destination that reflects Southport’s evolving character: bold yet grounded, iconic yet inclusive, and designed to foster long-term cultural, social, and environmental value.