Federation
Square (or Fed Square) is the new public
"heart" of the city of Melbourne,
Australia. It is located on the former
site of the Gas and Fuel Buildings and
the Princes Bridge railway station at
the southeast corner of the busy intersection
of Flinders and Swanston Streets - the
southern gateway to the central business
district - and opposite Flinders Street
Station and St Paul's Cathedral. It has
since its opening on October 26, 2002,
been both loved and despised by Melbournians,
causing controversy not only for its unusual
architecture, but also for the massive
budget blowout and delays in construction.
The result of a design competition, Federation
Square was designed by Don Bates and Peter
Davidson of Lab Architecture Studio. The
complex is a seemingly-confusing mass
of buildings in a rough U shape, surrounding
a central ochre-coloured plaza which invokes
images of the Outback, gently rising above
street level.
The
Square includes the Australian Centre
for the Moving Image (ACMI), the Ian Potter
Centre: NGV Australia, the BMW Edge auditorium,
the local SBS (Special Broadcasting Service)
TV headquarters, and a number of cafès
and restaurants, including the TransPort
pub. There is a Produce Market at Federation
Square every Friday, where products from
country Victoria are sold. The Ian Potter
Centre houses the Australian part of the
art collection of the National Gallery
of Victoria (NGV), and is located at Federation
Square (international works are displayed
at the NGV International on St Kilda Rd).
There are over 20,000 Australian artworks,
including paintings, sculpture, photography,
fashion and textiles, and the collection
is one of the oldest and most well-known
in the country.
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