Davin Smith 2004 Biennale Finalist

Project Summary

The project elevates the initial brief of the Digiport, (commercial, tertiary education, apartments and hotels), with an urban overlay of a senior secondary school, and further civic apparatus. The site becomes a connection between education, information and commercial production.

The promenade is rerouted creating Docklands' civic heart. The New-Quay promenade is extended through the site to the Docklands Stadium, ramping up to create an urban plaza, with access to three great urban rooms; library, gallery and cinema. The docks reprise their role in cultural exchange.

The project provides contemporary urban spaces resonating with the spatial typologies that form Melbourne.

Jury Comments

This scheme is grand in terms of its master plan and typologies. It creates an evocative urban landscape within the docklands wilderness, providing a framework and model for future development. This arresting presentation carries its own authority. The scale and power of the architectural world proposed in the presentation alludes to the optimisms of modernity.