The Heffron Centre

First Look Revealed Into The Heffron Centre Sporting Complex In Sydney

A new home for the mighty Rabbitohs

Randwick City Council has completed a new community sporting facility in Maroubra’s Heffron Park known as The Heffron Centre. The new home for the mighty Rabbitohs’, the NRL’s oldest club, forms part of the Council’s $58M development in Sydney, Australia.

The existing indoor sports centre and gymnastics buildings on the site, dating back to the 1940s, will be demolished as part of the project, to be replaced by the new Heffron Centre, a completed facility designed by the award-winning architectural firm CO-OP Studio.

A significant milestone

At the time of the announcement, South Sydney Rabbitohs CEO Blake Solly said, “The Centre will allow us to double the size and reach of our community programs which have already helped achieve over 400 Aboriginal employment placements, helped young people achieve their HSC and helped over 7,600 students with health and well-being messages.”

Randwick Mayor Danny Said stated the release of our detailed architectural renderings is a significant milestone for the development.

We’re very proud of the fact that the visualizations look exactly as CO-OP Studio planned.

The Heffron Center Architecture Dawn Entrance

With the design in good hands

After years of overseas collaboration, we were ready for our biggest Australian project alongside CO-OP. More than five of our friends, colleagues gathered in the first meeting to start thinking about all the renderings and the animation needed to represent Rabbitohs’ new Maroubra home for the local citizens in Sydney.

As a rendering studio, we crafted detailed architectural renderings and architectural visualisation assets to shape early concepts.

With the design in good hands, we dedicated most of our time to listening to stories and studying the functions to prepare for our first creative proposals and sketches. We enjoyed our job and the people we worked with, and as time went on, we got to go into details. We were driven by one individual task: to introduce the Heffron Centre beautifully, focusing on its numerous functions and unique location in this peaceful, green environment.

The Heffron Center Facade Dawn Parking Lot

A very special Australian project

When the time came to assemble our animation team in February, we decided to favor new partners and new crafts over our rock-solid workflow. The circumstances, starting this very special Australian project, demanded it.

Gabriel Furber has composed original music for the Heffron animation, while using Artificial Intelligence (AI) we generated 3D high-resolution reconstructions of Rabbitohs players from 2D photos to display them accurately. Both things were new in our office. ZOA’s culture fosters artists and creators to come together and create unique experiences for a wide audience. This has put our business in a fortunate position, particularly over the last years.

The Heffron Center Design Facade Rain Sunset

Insanely talented creative souls

It’s been over five years since CO-OP Studio and ZOA joined forces to create remarkable visuals. All we can say is how much we admire the Australian team for their openness, innovative spirit and insanely talented creative souls.

Being invited to work together on South Sydney Rabbitohs’ “Heffron Centre” came as a very humbling honor.

Since its opening in 2023, the Heffron Centre has become a vibrant community hub, seamlessly blending elite sport, local engagement, and architectural innovation.