One of Anita Glesta’s notable public works is located in Cook and Phillip Park, a central urban space in Sydney, Australia. Commissioned in collaboration with landscape architects Spackman & Mossop, Glesta designed a terraced water garden using indigenous sandstone. This public park opened in January 2000 as part of the City of Sydney’s initiative to integrate innovative sculptural interventions throughout the city in preparation for the 2000 Olympic Games. The gardens created by Glesta are known as the Yurong Water Gardens.

The use of sandstone in the project references its historical and architectural prevalence in Sydney, while the incorporation of water evokes the original creek that once flowed through the site over a century ago. The scale and strategic placement of the sandstone elements were intentionally designed to respond to the presence of St. Mary’s Cathedral, which overlooks the site. The simplicity and natural forms of the sandstone create a dialogue with the Cathedral’s ornate architectural details, generating a counterpoint between intimacy and grandeur, simplicity and intricacy, and the old and the new—all expressed through a shared material language.

Water in the Yurong Water Gardens functions both as a historical reference and as a conceptual link to the adjacent Aquatic Centre. It creates a continuum—from the structure’s interior aquatic themes to the exterior garden environment—culminating in a contemplative and immersive public space.

Sandstone and water. Cook and Phillip Park. Public Art Commission, Sydney City Council, Australia, 2000.