Xiao Shao

The Campus Carpet: Grattan and Bouverie Streetscape Renovation

This research project focuses on the renovation of Grattan Street streetscape through exploring the concepts of shared space, engagement, and social space quality. The design reimagines the interface of New Student Precinct and ‘stitches’ the campus with the urban fabric through integrating the Gate 8 entrance, with two main streets (Grattan Street, Bouverie Street) and laneways (Church Street, Little Grattan Street and Malvina Place). By 2026, Grattan Street will play a vital role due to the completion of the Parkville Station as part of Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel. This will result in a huge growth  of pedestrian movement along the street, especially between Leicester and Swanston streets where a key future campus entrance to the University of Melbourne’s New Student Precinct (NSP) is set to open.

Key thesis questions:

• How will this traditionally car-dominant road, lined with nineteenth-century elm avenues, be converted to a pedestrian-dominated street?
• How will the City of Melbourne, the University, and the public alike, utilise streetscape to build a common identity for a vibrant community?
• How to maximise water sensitive urban design?
• How to stimulate people to communicate and create a sense of place?
• How to strive for a reconciliation between the Indigenous history and first-nation peoples today with future development?