VISION 31—IN SEARCH OF A COMMUNITY VIBE
22
Vision’s Peter Hyatt discusses the project with Robert Stent
of Hayball about a long, low-rise building with sky-high
ambitions for Melbourne’s waterfront:
PH It's one of the smallest waterfront structures, if not the
smallest on Victoria Harbour, yet distills more into it than its
much larger neighbours.
RS That's an interesting observation given that there are so
many inert large-scale residential buildings. Then you have
large, campus style office buildings with their own inner life
and urban environment where people spend most of their
time. Our little building is alive seven days a week and six of
those days are about providing community services. On the
weekend, it comes alive in another way with boating activity.
It really spills out onto the wharf and down to the water
between the dock square and the dock. It creates a small
intimate space for boating and children.
But this almost has an umbilical cord to the water with
its permeable façade and that long ramp to the water.
It’s part community building and part multi-faceted
clubhouse. This is a little more ad hoc and shed-like than
say, the library building with its flexibility of use.
Right: Glass is critical to the project’s
success as public window and ‘invitation’.
Below: Viridian’s Vanceva colored glass range
on the northern facade produces a subtle
activation and visual warmth to interiors.