Imagine seeing your favourite band perform live from the comfort of a futuristic auditorium as they float along Melbourne’s Yarra River. Or how about a new performance space to host music, theatre, and live performance located in the heart of Flinders Street Station?
These live music visions aren’t simply pipe dreams, they’re very real potential Government funded projects should they claim the public’s vote in a new $1 million design competition.
The Victorian State Government is planning to transform the iconic Flinders Street Station as part of a forthcoming multi-million re-development project at the site based on the winner of the People’s Choice Award, which opens today.
The six competition finalists have been made available to the public for the first time today, featuring a host of visionary plans for Flinders Street Station that include designs for lush parks, spacious hotels, and even a school at the Melbourne landmark, complete with detailed submissions of how the proposed changes can enhance the cultural vibrancy of the Victoria capital.
Among the six finalists are two that will be of particular interest to live music enthusiasts. The first shortlisted submission, from HASSELL + Herzog & De Meuron proposes to “underscores its (Flinders Street Station) central civic nature with new cultural and public functions for all residents and visitors to Melbourne.”
Their makeover of the heritage site proposes the construction of a new precinct “encompassing St Kilda Road and Federation Square with the old Customs House and the Immigration Museum on Flinders Street,” which would inside feature a “major public art gallery, public plaza, amphitheatre, marketplace, and a permanent home for arts and cultural festival organisations.”
Mock-ups of the amphitheatre illustrate the potential live music possibilities of the outdoor amphitheatre in particular, showing a full riverside crowd watching a performance on a floating platform on the Yarra.
The second submission to contain a tilt to live music is from NH Architecture whose space-age plan seeks to connect Flinders Street Station to its west-end in a new extended precinct, as well to its history and “Melbourne-ness.”
“Our design seeks to capture this ‘Melbourness’ and create a new landmark for the city and the Yarra River,” reads the submission. “A glass lattice roof will float above the stations new concourses,” it continues.
“We also propose a new landmark at the centre of the station precinct: the Melbourne Room. This public venue compresses the genetic DNA of the city into a room able to accommodate the cultural spill-over from Federation Square, the artistic visions of the Victorian Arts Centre, the sporting icon of the Brownlow Medal presentation or the wild and dangerous world of Circus Oz,” the NH Architecture finalist explain.
If the blueprints show a performance space that’s big enough to host Circus Oz, then it’s easily big enough to host a music concert and given the Arts Centre already regularly hosts music performances at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the Recital Centre, and Concert Hall – it’s not a stretch to imagine them hosting popular music and concerts inside the proposed ‘Melbourne Room.’
The winning design however, is up to the public, with voters asked to rate each submission based on four criteria: overall design merit, transport functionality, cultural heritage and iconic status, and urban design and precinct integration.
Voting is open from Tuesday 23rd July to Monday 5th August with the People’s Choice Award winner to be announced on Thursday 8th August.
Head to vote.majorprojects.vic.gov.au/#entrants to inspect the six final designs and vote.
