St Matthew’s Darley Smith Building

The development of the Darley Smith Building and adjoining Courtyard in Manly was a rare opportunity and much-anticipated addition of the Corso’s architecture. The project had been in planning for many years by St Matthew’s Church, with the intent to extend its community facilities and outreach activities.

The construction on the busy Manly Corso retained a heritage façade, added a three-storey extension and re-developed the courtyard. The expansion included a recreation centre, contemporary workspaces, a state-of-the-art auditorium, catering kitchen, rooftop terrace and renovated the function room and church offices. The open courtyard space is complete with children’s playground and canteen kitchen.

Rohrig understood that the project held significance to the multicultural and vibrant community of Manly. Its purpose, communicated by the church, was to act as a community hub; a building offering a central shared space to host events from weddings and musical performances to outreach programs such as soup kitchens and ESL classes. Driven by this vision, Rohrig persevered through the face of adversity to deliver a great project as quickly as possible and provide a valuable asset to the Manly community.