Civic Vision exhibition opens at Sydney’s Parkline Place

Foster + Partners | Civic Vision

Level 2, Parkline Place, 252 Pitt Street, Sydney, Australia

25 October – 21 December 2025, 09:00 – 18:00 daily

Free entry

Foster + Partners | Civic Vision is the first comprehensive exhibition of the practice’s work to be held in Australia, providing an in-depth look at Foster + Partners’ global portfolio of work since it was founded in 1967 by Norman Foster. Situated in Parkline Place – the latest project by Foster + Partners in Australia – the exhibition focuses on its contribution to the urban environment and infrastructure and approaches the city as integral to a collective, sustainable future.

Gerard Evenden, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners, said:

“We are delighted to be putting on this first-of-its-kind exhibition in Sydney – a city we have been working in for more than 25 years. This is a fantastic opportunity to reflect on our holistic approach to civic architecture, which has underpinned our work since the 1960s, and continues to evolve to meet the challenges of today.”

Muir Livingstone, Partner, Foster + Partners, added:

“It is a great privilege to showcase the practice’s work in Parkline Place – a project that we have been working on for the past six years – and the new home for our Sydney studio. Our projects in the city exemplify the civic and sustainable approach that the exhibition centres on. From our first Sydney project, Deutsche Bank Place, which features a four-storey public plaza at its base, to our work for Sydney Metro that is transforming the way thousands of people travel across the city.”

Displaying early projects alongside recent developments, the exhibition highlights the durability of the practice’s structures and ideas, as well as their capacity for evolution. By bridging past achievements with contemporary aspirations, Foster + Partners | Civic Vision aims to inspire new perspectives on the city of today, and tomorrow.

The exhibition is organised around three themes: ‘Community + Culture,’ ‘Living + Working,’ and ‘Planning + Mobility.’ It features a variety of the practice’s Australian projects, including Deutsche Bank Place and Salesforce Tower at Sydney Place, as well as groundbreaking designs for Hong Kong including the iconic Hongkong and Shanghai Bank HQ and the Hong Kong International Airport, consistently voted amongst the best in the world, London’s famous ‘Gherkin’ and Berlin’s Reichstag German Parliament. The soon to open Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi will also be on display.

Since the 1960s, Foster + Partners’ work has extended beyond technological innovation to consider more social ends, designing environmental masterplans, carbon-neutral cities while exploring how sustainable design can renew the quality of our urban life. From the outset, considerations of sustainability went beyond energy consumption to enhance the user experience through clarity, function, orientation, light, and aesthetic. These concerns also informed new kinds of civic space, landscape, and infrastructure.

Today, this attitude of civic wellbeing and an ecological focus imbues each new project with a collective spirit and imperative to reach new heights of environmental performance. As the world grapples with environmental challenges, the practice has expanded its approach and expertise. Foster + Partners | Civic Vision looks across time and scale to explore a continued interest in the value of density, the necessity of light and green space, and the interconnectedness of the modern world.

Acknowledgement of Country

We recognise our responsibility to act always in the spirit of respect and reconciliation, particularly because the work we do is closely associated with the shaping of the land and waterways. We acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, on whose land Parkline Place and our Sydney studio is located, together with our other built projects. We also acknowledge the Yagara and Turrbal peoples in Brisbane, as well as the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung peoples in Melbourne, two cities where we are currently working.

Projects featured in the exhibition

Community + Culture:

Old Trafford Stadium District, Manchester
A landmark stadium for Manchester United, which would sit at the heart of an ambitious masterplan, and act as a catalyst for regeneration.
House of Wisdom, Sharjah
The library is conceptualised as a social hub for learning, supported by innovation and technology.
Vatican Chapel, Pavilion of the Holy See, Venice
A temporary chapel for The Venice Architecture Biennale 2018, featuring a tensegrity structure that is made up of steel masts and cross arms.
Zayed National Museum, Abu Dhabi
The centrepiece of the Saadiyat Cultural District, showcasing the history, culture, and the social and economic transformation of the Emirates.
Queen Elizabeth II Memorial, London
The winning design concept for St James’s Park celebrates Queen Elizabeth’s life through a time of great change.
Datong Art Museum
China’s ‘Museum of the 21st Century’ with a grand gallery space that spans almost 80 metres.
Great Court at the British Museum, London
A major public amenity – with a glazed canopy fusing state-of-the-art engineering and economy of form – at the heart of the British Museum.
Reichstag, New German Parliament, Berlin
The retrofit project takes cues from the original fabric and allows people to ascend symbolically above the heads of their representatives.

Living + Working:

Ombú, Madrid
A sustainable office space that breathes new life into a historic industrial building and revitalises the surrounding area.
Bloomberg, London
The highly sustainable European headquarters was awarded the Stirling Prize in 2018.
30 St Mary Axe, London
The city’s first ecological tall building is rooted in a radical approach − technically, architecturally, socially and spatially.
Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Headquarters, Hong Kong
The project that virtually reinvented the office tower.
Salesforce Tower at Sydney Place
An office tower in the heart of the city’s iconic Circular Quay precinct.
Parkline Place, Sydney
A 39-storey commercial tower that integrates with the new Gadigal Station below.
Deutsche Bank Place, Sydney
A 31-storey building with flexible, column-free office space and a new ‘urban room’ in the city’s central business district.
The Murray, Hong Kong
A major retrofit hotel project that has transformed a listed building and reinvented the urban quarter.
Lumiere Apartments, Sydney
A model of sustainable, high-density urban living in Sydney’s Townhall Precinct.

Planning + Mobility:

New Slussen Masterplan, Stockholm
One of the largest urban transformation projects in Sweden, which creates a dynamic urban quarter and transforms the city centre.
Trafalgar Square, London
The practice’s contemporary interventions continue the boldness of the square’s original design and improve universal access.
Marseille Vieux Port
The masterplan for the old port reclaims the quayside as a civic space and removes traffic to create a safe, semi-pedestrianised public realm.
The Forestias, Bangkok
A residential-led masterplan – with a forest at its heart – providing a template for future urban living in Thailand.
Hong Kong International Airport
One of the world’s largest and most advanced airports, located at the hub of a global region that reaches across Asia and Australasia.
London Stansted Airport
Returning to the roots of modern air travel, the airport recaptures the clarity of early airfields, together with some of the lost romance of air travel.
Sydney Metro
Preliminary designs for five stations for the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project – defining the passenger experience, the integration of the oversite development, and outlining how each station would connect with its wider precinct. Barangaroo and Gadigal stations were taken from preliminary design through to construction phase services.
Haramain High Speed Rail, King Abdullah Economic City
Four modular stations are inspired by the ancient architectural traditions of the region and create a new infrastructural spine for sustainable transport in Saudi Arabia.