Design for Sydney's next giant exhaust stack sparks mixed reactions

The design for Sydney's next giant exhaust stack has been revealed, prompting mixed reactions from architects and residents.

A render of the finished design for the structure, which is under construction on Victoria Road in Rozelle, where the new Westconnex motorway tunnels will meet the Iron Cove Bridge, has been published on the architect's website.

The 22-metre tall smoke stack has been described by architect Studio Chris Fox as a "bespoke sculptural façade".

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The design has divided professional architects, as well as members of the local Balmain Facebook group, who variously described it as "a portaloo monstrosity", "stunningly gorgeous", "oppressive", "beautiful" and "a dehydrated meconium stool sample", Nine newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald has reported.

Studio Chris Fox has explained the "tectonic, modulated façade" is intended to "evoke a rocky monolith, a relic of the Sydney landscape".

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Vertical gardens will be incorporated on the urban design.

"The form of the façade echoes that of an escarpment, with the under croft giving way to an explosion of greenery as green wall modules populate the surface," the building's description reads.

"The structure also draws inspiration from the geomorphology of New South Wales waterfalls, especially those in the Blue Mountains."

One Facebook user has commented that the building will resemble "waterfalls in the Blue Mountains after a drought of at least five years".

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