Melbourne Arts Precinct Reimagination

John Bahoric and Chris Smiles

Studio Outline:

The Melbourne Arts Precinct is one of the premier arts precincts in Australia.

The Arts Centre Melbourne and NGV provide the front door to the rich tapestry of visual and performing arts venues. The depth and breadth of venues continue down along Sturt Street all the way to the Malt House theatre and beyond.

However, there remains an opportunity to develop the Melbourne Arts Precinct into one of the world’s leading arts and cultural hubs.

Much master planning work has been performed over the years to better connect the entire precinct with the surrounding city scape, and to improve the urban and public realm of Sturt Street.

“Imagine a fully integrated and activated precinct; where arts institution programs are complimentary to each other. Where activity and interest is generated both within the arts institutions and in in the public areas that bind; a place that achieves high quality urban design and amenity in both the public and private realm”  - Yvonne von Hartel AM, 2013.

The chorus of voices calling for further intervention are today as strong as ever.

This unit explores opportunities for reactivation and intervention within the precinct, focusing on Sturt Street and the Y Site as a driver for better connectivity to the city and better amenity to the area.

Students are encouraged to explore narratives which form correlations between theatre, performing arts and the built environment. Taking inspiration from Lebbius Woods, Steven Holl and Co-op Himmelblau, projects evolve with a public realm focus and a strong sense of the practical as drivers for good design.

The studio will include guests from the consulting industry, clients, construction, stakeholders and facility end users, and will expose students to the broader landscape that is the industry of the built environment in Melbourne.

Emphasis will be placed on the exploration of functional briefs, good public realm design, sustainability in design and rational (parametric) principals to built forms.

Studio Leaders

The studio will be run by JOHN BAHORIC (Director, Building Structural lead at Mott MacDonald) and CHRIS SMILES (Associate Director, Cox Architects) – both bring a wealth of experience, knowledge and industry expertise to the course in a manner that will be unique to the faculty and ultimately will enrich the journey of discovery, exploration and learning.

ST1/11 Monday 6:15pm - 9:15pm, MSD Room 117
ST2/11 Thursday 6:15pm - 9:15pm, MSD Room 141