2023 Award for Social Impact
2022 Winner - Urban Design
2021 Gold - Architecture - Community and Civic
2022 Finalist
Conversion of the former Collingwood Technical College into a creative precinct of artist studios, galleries, workshops, hospitality and retail for Creative Arts Precinct.
With the site gifted to Creative Arts Precinct in a state of disrepair, the brief was to bring three heritage buildings up to code and open them to a community of creative tenants – while keeping the site accessible to the broader public.
We won the project through a competition, with a concept of creating communal spaces, circulation routes and threshold moments designed to maximise the chance of unplanned encounters and new connections.
The design approach was to do as little as possible. Rather than inserting new stairs and lifts inside the existing buildings, we placed them on the outside, turning them into sculptural elements. The staircase structures read as landmarks, with cantilevered platforms that invite people to pause.
The main entry presented a different kind of decision. The original Art Deco entrance is grand but rather than use it, we cut a new opening directly through the heritage fabric into the central courtyard. This move revealed the heart of the precinct and created an entrance that feels open and importantly, accessible. Structural constraints required retaining two brick columns in the portal, rather than conceal them, we gold-leafed them as a signifier to its heritage.
Collingwood Yards
Conversion of the former Collingwood Technical College into a creative precinct of artist studios, galleries, workshops, hospitality and retail for the Collingwood Yards.
The original Art Deco entrance is grand but rather than use it, we cut a new opening directly through the heritage fabric into the central courtyard. This move revealed the heart of the precinct and created an entrance that feels open and importantly, accessible.
The design approach was to do as little as possible. Rather than inserting new stairs and lifts inside the existing buildings, we placed them on the outside, turning them into sculptural elements. The staircase structures read as landmarks, with cantilevered platforms that invite people to pause.
