Federation Square is Melbourne’s meeting place and a unique cultural precinct. Federation Square brings together a creative mix of attractions, including The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, ACMI: Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Champions: Australian Racing Museum & Hall of Fame, National Design Centre and the Melbourne Visitor Centre, along with 15 restaurants, cafes and bars, dedicated function centres, guided tours at 11am and 2pm Monday - Saturday and over 2000 events held annually.

A company wholly owned by the State Government of Victoria, Fed Square Pty Ltd has overseen the development since November 2000 and is now managing its ongoing operation on a commercial basis. The company was established in 1998 and was incorporated under Corporations Law in 1999. The company reports to the Victorian State Government Treasurer and Minister for Innovation, John Brumby.

Fed Square Pty Ltd has four company Directors and operates with a Chief Executive Officer and a small team of professionals with experience across a diverse range of areas including project management, finance, leasing, marketing, media and promotions, events management and operations.

At the conclusion of the design competition, there was great haste to proceed with the project. The State Government in collaboration with the Commonwealth Government secured an additional $50 million (through the Federation Fund).

The construction of the deck commenced the second stage of Federation Square, with the first stage being the rationalisation of the railway lines. In the late 1990s, Multiplex Constructions were awarded the contract to construct Federation Square (on top of the ‘sub-structure’ that had been built by Leighton Constructions) by the then Office of Major Projects acting on behalf of the State Government. In mid-1999 the State Government set up the Fed Square Pty Ltd with the charter to own and operate the Square on its behalf.

In September 1999, the new Labor Government led by Steve Bracks resolved to support the project and to see it through to completion, in the face of a range of significant challenges. Fed Square Pty Ltd, in conjunction with the State Government in early 2000, commenced the task of building an organisation to undertake the operational and commercial activities of the Square and assume responsibilities as client for the project.

The Premier of Victoria, the Hon. Steve Bracks MP, officially opened Federation Square on Saturday 26 October 2002. Construction of the Deck

The construction of the deck beneath the Square is understood to be the largest expanse of railway decking ever built in Australia. The deck is supported by over 3,000 tonnes of steel beams, 1.4 kilometres of concrete ‘crash walls’ and over 4,000 vibration-absorbing spring coils and rubber padding. The deck is designed to support some of the most sensitive uses imaginable - galleries, cinemas, and radio and television studios - and it needed to isolate them from vibration and noise.

If the location and its uses were the major complicating factors for the project’s success, they were also one of its most important assets in terms of public benefit. For decades the Jolimont rail yards have been an unsightly scar on the face of central Melbourne, cutting it off from the Yarra River. But now, Federation Square has been built on a deck over the top of these rail yards removing this sight from the city scape.

The building façade system, utilising new understandings of surface geometries, allows for the individual buildings of Federation Square to be differentiated from each other, whilst simultaneously maintaining an overall coherence.

Three cladding materials: sandstone, zinc (perforated and solid) and glass have been used, structured within a triangular pinwheel grid. This modular system uses five single triangles (all of the same size and proportion) to make up a self-similar triangular (but larger scale) “panel”. Five panels (following the same geometrical logic) are joined together to create a larger scale, self-similar triangular “mega panel”, which is then mounted on to the structural frame to form the visible façade.

Through the varying proportions of façade materials within this triangular grid and their combinations within a changing set of patterns or figurations, unique surface qualities have been developed not only for each building, but also for the different orientations of each façade.

The square was the civic and spatial component for Federation Square, establishing connections with the diverse context of the city and the surrounding urban and riverside landscape. The design allows for a vast array of uses, from the largest scale public gathering of up to 15,000 people to intimate areas for relaxation and thoroughfare.

To distinguish it from the city’s existing pavement, the square was surfaced in hand-laid (approx. 500,000) cobblestones of variegated coloured Kimberley sandstone. The square joins seamlessly to the surrounding streetscape at Swanston Street, then rises up one level towards the east, providing entry at an upper level to several of the buildings of Federation Square.

The sandstone paving has been laid in a patterned design as one of the collaborative components of the public artwork programme. Paul Carter, writer and artist, linked this overall design to a separate artwork called nearamnew, set within the Square’s surface. This work of sandblasted paving records and voices the site’s history through the cultural encounters that have marked it as a site. Consisting of a series of overlapping stone tablets inlaid with layers of typographically scaled and interwoven texts, the artwork reflects different and often conflicting subjects and stories throughout the site’s history.

The Labyrinth, so called because of its maze of zig-zag surface corrugated concrete walls, is a unique passive cooling system. It is used to provide environmental climate control (cooling and heating) for the glazed Atrium and BMW Edge, as well as acting as a pre-cooling system for the ACMI when its full capacity is not required for the Atrium. Almost 40 x 40 metres and 1.2 km in length, the Labyrinth is positioned beneath the Square but above the actual deck over the rail lines.

Utilising the specific climatic qualities of Melbourne, cool air is pumped through the Labyrinth’s cells at night, cooling the concrete walls. By day, air is gently pumped through the cells, the air cooled in turn by the concrete walls. In winter the Labyrinth’s thermal mass maintains an inherent warming potential that can be supplemented as required.

The system directs air to the Atrium, dispersed by use of a low-velocity displacement system at floor level. In peak summer conditions, the Labyrinth is capable of delivering air to the Atrium at up to 12°C below the external ambient temperature, equivalent to conventional air conditioning, but using one tenth of the energy consumption and generating less than one-tenth of the CO2 emissions.

The Atrium is a unique covered public space, providing a complement to the open square. Offset into two distinct elements, by the intersection of the “Crossbar”, the Atrium is a galleria-like structure. As a continuously open, publicly accessible space, the Atrium effectively and dramatically connects the city, through Federation Square to the Yarra River.

The northern part of the Atrium, as a glazed covered street, provides a forecourt to the Ian Potter Centre through an open interior volume 16 metres high and up to 18 metres across. The southern end of the Atrium steps from the deck level over the railway down to the river. Within this transition, an indoor amphitheatre, the BMW Edge, provides a public theatre for incidental daily events, casual entertainment or ticketed musical, comedy and other performances. The design is tuned acoustically to provide a space suitable for small to medium sized music and theatre ensembles, including chamber orchestras.

The open galvanised structural frames of the Atrium evolved from the same triangular geometry as that of the facades , but developed as a folded three-dimensional system glazed both inside and out. The deep space of this supporting frame acts as a thermal chimney, evacuating the build-up of hot air.

This building comprehensively presents the National Gallery of Victoria’s collection of Australian Art. A total of 7,250 m2 of gallery space showcases Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art on the ground floor, historic and modern Australian collections on Level 1 and contemporary art and galleries for special exhibitions situated on Level 2.

The main collections are curatorially organised in a regulated, chronological sequence. Nonetheless, the building’s design offers the means for visitors to inscribe their own experiences of the collection through shifting gallery view lines and cross connections. This design strategy gives visitors a rich, inviting engagement with the outstanding collection of the NGV.

The simple overlapping (or dual filament) composition of the galleries allows both a direct route through the building’s inherent figure-eight layout, or by the optional, diverse pathways. The focus, however, always returns to the central area of the public foyers. Circulation by lift, escalator and stairs is joined at each level in the central foyers, which are formed by the intersection of the “Crossbar” building with the NGV building. Here vertical movement becomes part of the building’s internal drama, providing a continuous outlook to other aspects of the site and across Melbourne city.

The two overlapping gallery filaments are the main exhibition spaces. Between these filaments are formed the intra-filament spaces. These spaces are enclosed, calmer and darker in the north half of the building, while opening onto the landscape, with views across the Yarra to the south. In the northern section, the spaces are focused upwards, to the skylights and the vertical volume between the gallery spaces. For the southern intra-filament space, a continuously folded glass wall lines all the bridging levels. These intra-filament spaces are an important spatial reference, assisting in providing orientation within the building, as well as opportunity for relaxation

A 290-to-450 seat indoor amphitheatre situated at the river end of the Atrium, the BMW Edge has been designed for music, small to medium scale theatre, comedy, talks and presentations, launches and cabaret.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground, Alexandra Gardens, the Victorian Arts Centre spire and the Yarra River are all in view through the crystalline lining of the venue. The fit out of this new cultural venue was made possible through the generous support of BMW Group Australia. Yarra Building (Australian Racing Museum)

This building provides enclosure for the plaza at its southern edge. It links the Square and the deck level facilities to the riverside terrace and the historic vaults along the Yarra River with a variety of levels and adjacent stairways. These links continue the permeability of the site as a whole, providing connection from the river back to the Square and to Flinders Street.

The open and opaque qualities of the façade systems used for the office and cinema components of the ACMI continue across the Square and are combined on the Yarra building. The façade opens with terraces towards the river and with viewing edges towards the activities of the plaza. The activation of this building acts to extend the integration of civic, cultural and commercial facilities within the precinct. St Paul’s Court / Melbourne Visitor Centre

Through the design of St Paul’s Court, St Paul’s Cathedral is integrated with Federation Square. The Cathedral’s spatial connection to the site, formed by the north west arms of the Square and the two “shards” framing the cathedral’s south facade, allows it to become a central focus, encouraging previously unseen cathedral vistas.

Acting as a signpost for the site, tourist information services for Melbourne have been consolidated within the new Melbourne Visitor Centre located on the north-west corner of Federation Square. It is supplemented by additional exhibition, retail and cafe facilities in immediate proximity.

The Alfred Deakin Building is home to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, the Victorian State Governments film and screen culture organisation, and the Melbourne operations of SBS, Australia’s multi cultural radio and television broadcaster.

The various facilities and services provided at the Alfred Deakin Building are assigned into the two different buildings. One building is more enclosed, a virtually windowless structure hosting the two cinemas, with a function space, a digital lounge, retail space and cafe. The other is a more open building containing the management offices, recording and broadcasting studios for SBS, as well as the corporate offices of ACMI, with theatrette, web-casting studio, electronic classroom, video production lab and numerous screen exhibition spaces.

Two different arcades have been used to provide public circulation within the building, as well as linkage and connection to the rest of Federation Square. The central arcade joins the two main buildings, providing both a Flinders Street and main Square level entry. The central arcade also forms the main foyer and circulation space that vertically connects all the functional components. The east arcade serves as a public connection to the Square, as well as providing an animation of the building through the temporal ebb and flow of people leaving the cinemas after each session.

As part of the ACMI ensemble, the “Screen Gallery” is a unique exhibition space located below the street level, running parallel to the trains travelling beneath Federation Square. This vast space forms one of the few galleries, anywhere in the world, dedicated and designed for the display and development of media screen works. With this facility, ACMI is leading Australia in the development of screen-based art and technology into the 21st century. Transport

As an iconic building, Transport has a dual role in design terms. It creates a distinctive southern entry marker to both Federation Square and Melbourne city, with functional roles for the Square by providing the south-western enclosure, support to the large outdoor LED screen and important wind protection for the terraces.

The two components of the building are a crystalline volume, formed by the perforated screen façade, embedded into a zinc clad “shard”. The aluminium screen creates a virtual form through shadows by day and by emitting light at night. The perforations and openings formed in the façade create a differentiation around its elevations, acting as sun-shading, weather protection and focusing the internal views. The use of the perforated screen visually links this building with other elements of Federation Square.

http://www.federationsquare.com.au/