Melbourne Recital Centre, Australia
IN THE ARCHITECTS WORDS
The Yarra Arts Integration Project (later known as the Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre project) was in part a project that attempted to urbanise a dead section of the Arts Precinct on Southbank. In considering the design of the combined commission for two new performing spaces in Melbourne, we took up conditions that were not explicitly expressed in the project brief. The project client group comprised Arts Victoria, Major Projects Victoria, and specific user groups of the interim Melbourne Recital Centre Board and the Melbourne Theatre Company. There was a general mood amongst the primary government client groups for a new arts centre approach, a new shared facility that could exploit co-locational efficiencies. Early schemes demonstrated that this desire for common facilities tended to create an inward focussed arts centre, and did not express the traditions of the two real users’ sectors.
Our design was resolved as two new buildings, rather than one, like two shops in a street. The pavement was widened, by reconfiguring the road and parking structure. Each building was designed to push its circulation and public spaces to the front, open through shopfront facades, so the street is made active by the comings and goings of the inside. The connection of inside the building to on the street was a very deliberate decision. Each building has its Food and Beverage tenancies right on the street, with outdoor seating zones. Sturt St and Dodds Street are activated with corner or mid site entries. A new lane was added to the rear to carry service and delivery functions. In summary, ARM was mindful of the urban design issues in the project; from the recommendation to place the building on this site (during the feasibility study phase), to the placement of active frontages and entries on the street.
