3XN completes timber roofed sydney fish market for january opening

blackwattle bay’s first completed project

Set to open at last on January 19th, 2026, the 3XN Architects-designed Sydney Fish Market occupies a prominent stretch of Blackwattle Bay on the Australian city’s inner harbor. Planned in collaboration with BVN and Aspect Studios, and delivered by Multiplex, the project introduces a purpose-built facility that brings wholesale operations, public market areas, and waterfront access into a single system.

The new building, with its floating roof canopy, is located roughly one mile southwest of the central business district and replaces a former market structure with a volume oriented toward the harbor edge. The site sits within the wider renewal of Blackwattle Bay, where industrial ground has been reworked into a continuous band of public space and shoreline improvements.

images © Tom Roe

the landmark roof canopy by 3xn architects

Among the defining elements of the Sydney Fish Market, designed by Danish practice 3XN Architects with BVN and Aspect Studios, is its continuous roof canopy that spans nearly 20,000 square meters. Its profile rises and dips across the site, forming a sheltered field beneath rather than a closed hall.

The structure is assembled from 594 glulam beams and 407 prefabricated roof cassettes — some beams extending up to 32 meters in length. The canopy reaches roughly 200 meters along the water, establishing a broad horizontal presence when viewed from across the bay.

Timber is left exposed across much of the underside, with connections and joints legible at close range. The roof cassettes sit above this framework in a repeating pattern that reads as both structural and surface condition. Daylight filters through perimeter openings and roof edges to lend a steady variation in brightness across the market floor.

the Sydney Fish Market is set to open on the harbor edge at Blackwattle Bay

inside the new sydney fish market

Below the canopy, SXN Architects’ Sydney Fish Market operates within a semi-open plan. Stalls, service zones, and circulation routes are arranged to maintain clear separations between working areas and public paths. Sightlines run across the hall, allowing views into handling and auction spaces without direct overlap of movement.

Public circulation follows a sequence of ramps, bridges, and stepped seating that rises from the ground-level plaza. A tribune structure forms a gradual transition between exterior and interior zones, with concrete steps and timber surfaces facing the harbor. Movement through the building stays lateral and continuous, guided by changes in level and material rather than enclosed corridors.

a continuous timber roof spans the market floor and waterfront

a waterfront promenade

Around the building, more than 6,000 square meters of public open space extend along the foreshore. A new promenade links this section of Blackwattle Bay to the longer harbor walk connecting Rozelle Bay and Woolloomooloo. Hard surfaces give way to planted edges, where landscape interventions manage stormwater through biofiltration beds and wetland planting.

At the waterline, the project incorporates marine infrastructure intended to support ecological conditions within the bay. Seabin units, seawall tiles, and submerged habitat elements line the edge, forming a layered boundary between built surface and harbor water. These elements sit alongside working berths and service zones tied to the market’s daily operations.

The Sydney Fish Market stands as the first completed building within the broader transformation of Blackwattle Bay. Its orientation places the working market directly on the harbor, reversing the inward-facing arrangement of the previous facility.

the market sit beneath an open and ventilated hall