Studio 01

An Impressive Bunch of Losers

Derham Groves | Civic Focus

Studio Description

When it comes to popular architecture and design, few events tick as many boxes as the 1978 Melbourne Landmark Competition. Sydney had the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932) and the Sydney Opera House (1973), while Melbourne had no comparable world-class landmark. So, in December 1978, the state government of Victoria announced an ideas competition to design a new landmark for Melbourne which would replace the despised Princes Gate Towers (1967) above the railway tracks at Princes Gate, north of Princes Bridge. The judges were totally overwhelmed by the 2,300 entries received from all around the world. In the end, they couldn’t decide on one winner, so split the $100,000 prize money between 48 finalists. However, the flawed competition’s losers included Coop Himmelb(l)au; Warren Chalk; Cedric Price; Alison and Peter Smithson; Will Alsop; and Steven Holl.

Studio Outcome

Participants in this design thesis studio will select one or more entries in the Melbourne Landmark Competition and adopt or adapt it/them as the brief for a new Melbourne landmark on the same Princes Gate site. In the process, we will also explore a range of allied theories and topics, including the idea of the Situationist city (a key theory evident in all of the entries by the eight ‘starchitects’ mentioned above) and the role played by landmarks like ‘The Vessel’ (2019) in New York, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, in establishing sense of place.

Studio Leader

Derham Groves is an architect, an author and a curator. He has taught architecture at the University of Melbourne since 1999. He has written extensively on the influence of popular culture on architecture and vice versa. His books include Monkeemania in Australia (2019), Hopalong Cassidy: A Horse Opera (2017) and Out of the Ordinary: Popular Art, Architecture and Design (2012).

Readings & References

• Navas, Eduardo. Remix Theory: The Aesthetics of Sampling (2012).
• Herdt, Tania. The City and the Architecture of Change: The Work and Radical Visions of Cedric Price (2017).
• Sadler, Simon. The Situationist City.
• Stewart, Susan. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection (1984).

Schedule Wednesdays 15:15-18:15 in MSD Room 448; Thursdays 15:15-18:15 in MSD Room 137

Contact Handbook Key Dates