I’ve been in Sydney for the past year, and have just moved back to Melbourne. It was unfinished when I left, but even then you could see how god-awful ugly it was. Now it’s completed, and it’s even worse than I feared!
Argh! What a disgusting eyesore! What makes it worse is where it’s placed - opposite such beautiful historic buildings like Flinders St Station, a Cathedral, near the Town Hall, hell even the modern skyscrapers that abound in the CBD are at least designed with a regularity, a balance, a sleek beauty in itself - but Federation Square has no right angles, no unifromity of design, no beautiful colouration - it’s like a big puzzle box that somebody has broken into pieces, then leaned on so it’s all askew.
Ugly ugly ugly.
What is the pervading feeling in Melbourne? Do people like it? Do they hate it? Can I petition to have it knocked down? If we are a terrorist target, can I recommend it as a good spot to put a bomb?
Eh, I kinda like it. Well, some of it. You can keep the aluminium monstrosities* but I rather like the paved plaza itself… I think the whole wavy-ground thing is quite groovy (none of the photos do it justice) And the brown wierd-geometric-shape buildings aren’t too bad either. But then again, I’m the sort of geek who liked Storey Hall, so what would I know?
Right Angles? shrug who needs 'em?
You want something to bomb? May I suggest the Pickup Stix on St Kilda rd (is that still there? I’ve been afraid to look, recently) or the Rubiks cube at the back of the Melbourne Museum?
*well, I don’t know what they’re made of exactly, but that’s what it LOOKS like
Looks like Oz is maturong as a nation, putting up monstrosities like that, it takes a certain lack of manners and consideration to inflict such ugly hulks on a populace.
Well established nations seem to do well in this regard, but you might have some way to go to compete with the Artsfuerhrersbunker on the South Bank of the Thames in London.
I think the Pickup Stix have been dismantled and are lying in a field somewhere, for sale. I remember seeing something about it on the news a few months ago. They were quite awful, weren’t they? Who the hell’s going to buy them now, too?
Federation Square…eh. I think the collective “blech!”-ing has passed, and most people in Melbourne are used to it by now. I thought most of the stuff that’s actually in it was quite boring, too, although maybe visitors would get more out of it. The gallery is good, but I still have no real idea what the Australian Centre for the Moving Image is supposed to be about. What’s its function? Oh well.
And what’s this about turning the old GPO into a trendy new shopping centre? Seems like a waste of a cool building. I think they should bring together all the secondhand bookstores in the city and put them in the GPO, instead. It could be a musty book emporium.
And Storey Hall is cool. Except for the prurple and green entrance, which looks like it’s been poorly spraypainted on.
Darn. I was afraid of that. People getting used to crap. I wouldn’t mind if it was a wee way out of sight, like near the MCG or something, but right there it looks totally incongruous.
If I was Mayor, which naturally I would never be, I don’t care how much money would’ve been wasted, Federation Square would be torn down. Or covered up with nicer buildings, anyway.
Is that what they’re doing? I was wondering what the hell all that was. I also visited Central Shopping Centre today, and saw that it’s currently Melbourne Maze. I hope that’s worth it. Tons of money being spent on this upgrade spree, it better look good after it all. Judging by Federation Square, I don’t hold out much hope.
Y’know, I saw this thread title, and thought I bet he’s talking about Federation Square.
Well, I love it. I went to Melbourne for the first time last summer, and I think it’s great. It’s so bizarre and crazy and weird, and I spent ages walking around it and looking at it and thinking what the fuck is it for??? I reckon it’s great.
Although it seems totally impossible to photograph. I tried, but there is no way to convey the absolute marvelous ridiculousness of it in on 2-dimensional image. You need to be there. You need to experience Federation Square.
The clever part, you see, is that the main concourse it made to look like a river bed with the pebbles forming the main thoroughfare from the gallery down to Swantson St.
The not so clever part is that the river bed is actually made from ‘chipped’ granite. By chipped, I mean it’s like they had a rock and ‘hit the top of it with a hammer until it was nearly, but not entirely stright enough to walk on’.
I predict more than a few lawsuists from people who fall over. And if you do fall over, it won’t just be bruising, it will be blood everywhere. Damn it’s sharp.
Have I mentioned it’s hideous.
Oh, and the pickup sticks were sold to the City of Hume to erect over the Hume Freeway on its way into Melbourne. They’re trying to raise around half-a-million bucks to re-erect the thing after the City of Melbourne GAVE IT AWAY because no-one wanted to pay for it.
Y’know, it’s monstronsities like this that make me think fondly of the Yellow Peril (aka The Vault) down near the Aquarium.
Yep… there’s at least one high water mark… Melbourne’s Sing Sing Recording Studios. Powderfinger recorded “Odyssey Number Five” there. Accoustically, it’s on a par with Abbey Road. Same mics and mixing desks. Really tastefully done.
Now, take note of this… a Queenslander being magnanimous towards a Victorian. Pretty rare considering so many of you live up here these days and whine about Queensland lacking culture as much as you do.
You Victorian ex pats aren’t quite so bad as Whining Poms, but shit - there are some days we Queenslanders are tempted to make the comparison.
Hey, my last name is Hume. Nothing else to add, I just think it’s neat that you guys named a city after me. And a freeway! And I didn’t get you anything.
During the building phase, I too was tut-tutting about how on earth we could have decided to approve such a hideous monstrosity.
Bit I like it now. Normally I cringe when they try to incorporate the modern with the lovely old Victorian architecture, but Fed. Square seems to accentuate the feel of the ‘old’ with the curiosity of the new.
On the other hand, who the hell was the architect for the new museum (near the Exhibition Buildings)? A more unwelcoming building I have yet to encounter.
I liked it until I attended a concert there. The acoustics suck yet more and more of them are happening there. On NYE due to security concerns they closed all but one exit point but informed nobody, I worked my way through the sea of people only to find barricades at every turn. It was only then that I realised what a nightmare it is from a security/emergency perspective and I never wish to be trapped in there again, it is freakingly scary. It is not designed to be closed off so they really shouldn’t have events there that they feel the need to.
Other than that, it is quite fascinating to wander about in. Remember we got all that new space at Birrurung Marr out of the deal and I think they should be looked at in tandem.
I bet the guy who approved this insanity had something to do with that weird red and yellow madness that dangerously leans over the exit to the Citylink onto Tullamarine.
I really think Architecture should be function over form. These are examples of form over function, and it will be to the detriment of architecture if this is where it is all leading. We’ll end up in a Dali-esque city if we’re not careful, and we’ll all go doolally.
