Click here to view the full poster for Concept A
Concept A: Insides and Outsides
This concept proposes a multi-use Civic Hall Site with large outdoor and indoor public spaces. It features a reactivated, expanded and proudly exposed Civic Hall building with a spacious new East foyer and two new entrances to an expanded Central Library. The concept also incorporates major office and residential buildings to accommodate future population growth and general life in central Ballarat, and provides opportunities for diverse levels of public and private investment to be staged over time.
Architecturally, the concept tries to make the most of mixing old and new buildings by emphasising different forms, alignments and heights. The East and North-East edges are scaled and active for pedestrians, and the West side provides an intimate view of the original Art Deco building behind a secluded garden. North and East façades of the Civic Hall building are covered with new buildings. Carparking is hidden deep into the site, accessed from Doveton Street. Tall buildings are pushed back to Market Street (behind the Fly Tower). This leaves maximum morning and afternoon sunlight and visual amenity to public spaces and a long plaza on Mair Street.
Concept A suggests that major development around two sides of the existing buildings could greatly improve the amenity of the Civic Hall, the Central Library, and still leave significant façades and public open spaces.