The Sydney Metro City Stations project has been awarded the prestigious 2025 Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design, receiving acclaim as a strategic, financial, and urban design triumph. The ambitious project, which encompasses six new stations and two enhanced stations, has dramatically transformed mobility through Sydney's inner corridor while unlocking billions of dollars in economic opportunities.

According to the jury citation, the project successfully tackled an extremely complex, multi-faceted challenge by creating people-friendly precincts supported by public transportation, value capture, and public-private development on a scale never before witnessed in Australia. The collaboration involved intricate detail work that delivered outstanding results from an engineering perspective, while each station maintains its own unique urban character and exceptional spatial quality.

What sets the project apart is how each station understands its role within the broader network while being grounded in the logistics, wayfinding, and systems of the Metro project. The architecture is specifically committed to celebrating the unique qualities of each location and creating a delightful experience as passengers ascend from the station platform to street level. The integration of Indigenous knowledge and public art has been highly successful, telling stories of Country and inspiring imagination as people begin their journeys.

The project has had immediate and significant urban impacts on each precinct, revitalizing streetscapes, encouraging commerce, and driving substantial capital investment. The Sydney Metro team demonstrated an implicit understanding that people thrive in well-designed, generous public spaces, which forms the foundation for the long-term process of transforming good cities into great ones.

Located on traditional Cammeraygal and Gadigal Country in Sydney, New South Wales, the project involved numerous architectural and engineering firms. The reference design was created by Cox Architecture and Hassell, with engineering by WSP and Aecom. Foster and Partners and Architectus served as Stage 1 architects, with landscape architecture by Arcadia Landscape Architecture and engineering by Mott McDonald, Arcadis, and Robert Bird Group.

Each individual station involved specialized teams and unique artistic elements. Crows Nest Station featured Woods Bagot as station and over-station development architect, with GHD as station architect and Edwards as main contractor. The station includes public art by Esther Stewart and landscape architecture by Oculus. Victoria Cross Station was designed by Cox Architecture with over-station development by Bates Smart, constructed by Lendlease, and features public art by Lightwell artists Michael Thomas Hill and Indigo Hanlee.

Barangaroo Station showcases design by Foster and Partners with executive architecture by Architectus and services pods by Atelier Luke. The station was constructed by Besix Watpac and includes landscape work by both Arcadia Landscape Architecture and Plummer and Smith, along with public art by Khaled Sabsabi. Martin Place Station, designed by Grimshaw with over-station development by JPW and Tzannes, was built by Lendlease and features an extensive collection of public art by multiple artists including Mikala Dwyer, Claire Healey and Sean Cordeiro, Tina Havelock Stevens, Debra Beale, and Stevie Fieldsend.

Gadigal Station represents another collaboration between Foster and Partners and Cox Architecture, with over-station development by Bates Smart and construction by CPB. The station features public art by Callum Morton and Tomas Saraceno, with landscape design by Sue Barnsley Design. Central Station involved Woods Bagot, John McAslan and Partners, and GHD as architects, with construction by Laing O'Rourke and public art by Rose Nolan and Bronwyn Bancroft.

The final two stations complete the comprehensive network. Waterloo Station was designed by John McAslan and Partners, constructed by John Holland and Mirvac, and includes landscape architecture by Aspect Studio and public art by Nicole Monks. Sydenham Station featured collaborative design by Hassell and Weston Williamson, construction by John Holland and Laing O'Rourke, and public art by Agatha Gothe Snape. The project represents a landmark achievement in Australian urban design and public transportation infrastructure development.