“Architecture is a visual art, and the buildings speak for themselves.”
Julia Morgan (1872-1957), pioneering American architect
There’s an iceberg adrift on the Western Sydney plains.
The swirling snow blizzard that encircles it creates a slow-motion maelstrom effect, an ever-shifting choreography of light and shadow that suggests ice crystals dancing on the wind.
Emerging from the landscape like a monumental glacier carved by time, Australia’s first indoor snow resort is a sculptural icon of movement and light.
Its curved form, rising boldly from the terrain and tapering into the horizon, is wrapped in a façade of angular vertical panels that resemble kinetic ice shards.
These shards are more than just cladding: they’re a visual metaphor for a swirling snowstorm caught mid-motion, giving the structure a dynamic presence that changes with the sun, weather and viewing angle.
Viewed from afar, the Winter Sports World façade shimmers and shifts.
As light filters through this lattice, the building pulses with life, casting fractured shadows that animate the surfaces below.
This dynamic façade invites passersby to engage, to move around it, to see it from multiple perspectives, each one offering a new rhythm and new reading of its form.
At night, uplights wash the façade in cool blues and whites come dusk, mimicking the shifting hues of polar skies at twilight.
The showstopping drama continues up close.
Landscape architect John Lock’s firm John Lock & Associates collaborated with Aboriginal artist and educator Jamie Eastwood’s (Mugudun) to design the expansive Winter Sports World grounds and public realm.
“I want people to feel excitement, thrill and even fear when they come to Winter Sports World,” he says. “There should be spine-tingling drama.
“I want them to have an adrenaline rush just approaching the building when they see the ‘icefall’ and the light displays on the pavement.
“Then as you go down, the building becomes calmer and quieter.”
With thick native grass, flower plantings and tree canopies, the Winter Sports World site will create even more outdoor public space for people to walk, jog or cycle through and connect with.
Even the materials tell a story.
Excavated boulders from the site will be reused, honouring the Aboriginal belief that rocks have energy and belong to their place.
Water features evoke the flow of Dreamtime rivers like Dyarrubin, and local Indigenous plants provide shade and sanctuary.
But this is only the prologue: a visual overture to the sensory journey within.
Compelling architectural narrative
The journey to designing Winter Sports World didn’t begin at the ticket desk.
It started with an architectural vision and story.
The story is of Penrith coming into its own as the centrepiece of Western Sydney’s transformation as an economic engine and an international tourism destination.
Winter Sports World is the cohesion between the ancient connection to Country and wisdom of First Nations peoples and the modernity of a clean slate future under design and development.
Design is storytelling.
In an age of fleeting experiences, our giant snow box conveys a coherent, emotionally charged narrative that generates deeper connections and spurs word-of-mouth advocacy.
We’re balancing spectacle with substance, architectural ambition with cultural integrity.
WSW’s architectural narrative informs everything from the striking façade to the pathways winding through the landscape.
Each design decision reinforces the brand story: you don’t just watch the snow, you feel the exhilaration of a brewing blizzard at every turn.
Rooted in place
The Winter Sports World story doesn’t begin at the front door – it begins on Country, Darug Country on the banks of Dyarrubin (Nepean River).
While the architectural forms express the kinetic energy of a snowstorm, the landscape design honours the timeless story of the land itself.
The sculptural landscape features are not merely visual flourishes but living narratives.
In partnership with Jamie Eastwood, the design integrates First Nations artwork and motifs that reflect the powerful presence of the river and its enduring role as a life source for the Darug people.
Embedded in the site and interpreted through sculptural paving and water-sensitive landscaping, Eastwood’s work evokes flowing riverlines, meeting places and the rich connection between people and land.
Gentle curves in the landscape echo the meandering path of the river, while sandstone and native basalt boulders represent strength and continuity.
Textural planting harmonises with the building aesthetic yet ground the project in its Western Sydney identity, while other species and grasses provide cultural continuity, selected for their ecological suitability and significance in traditional knowledge.
Public spaces along the approach route act as moments of reflection and connection. Pathways widen into gathering zones inscribed with Jamie Eastwood’s symbolic that invite pause and interpretation, and the chance to appreciate the deep-time story embedded in the land beneath your feet.
Importantly, the landscape isn’t a passive foreground to architecture but a ceremonial arrival experience.
Visitors begin their journey in a place of acknowledgment, learning and reverence, not a carpark.
The storytelling doesn’t wait until the ski lift; it starts with the terrain.
Brand elevation
In the era of Insta selfies, differentiation is everything.
Every shot uploaded to every social media profile is a promotional asset that organically extends the venue’s reach, shapes perceptions and drives engagement long after guests have returned home.
Winter Sports World is the first of its kind in Australia and unique in design.
By the time you step through the doors, you’ve already experienced Winter Sports World in a multisensory entrée.
The adventure continues inside as narrative-driven design shifts from spectacle to immersion, with real perfect snow, perfect -4C degree C weather and perfect snow conditions 365 days a year.
There’s daily snowfall, a 3200m2 snow play area, cafes and restaurants with snow views, beginner and pro ski slopes, ice climbing and European-style alpine chalet-lined streets.
And Winter Sports World’s success becomes part of the Western Sydney story as a must-visit international destination.