Federation Square (Greater Melbourne)

Federation Square (also colloquially known as Fed Square) is a cultural precinct in the city of Melbourne, Australia. It comprises a series of buildings containing a public broadcaster, art galleries, a museum, cinemas, exhibition spaces, auditoria, restaurants, bars and shops around two major public spaces, one covered (The Atrium), the other open to the sky, and composed of two spaces that flow into one another (St. Paul's Court and The Square). The majority of the precinct is built on top of a concrete deck over busy railway lines.


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Federation Square occupies roughly a whole urban block bounded by Swanston, Flinders, and Russell Streets and the Yarra River. The open public squares are directly opposite Flinders Street Station and St Paul's Cathedral. The layout of the precinct helps to connect the historical central district of the city with the Yarra River and a new park Birrarung Marr. This refocusing of the city on the Yarra River also partly reinforces links with the Southbank district, whose redevelopment has been ongoing as a key part of central Melbourne since the late 1980s.

The site of Federation Square has had a variety of former uses. The Gas and Fuel Buildings, Jolimont Yard and the Princes Bridge railway station were the immediate predecessors, though in the nineteenth century there was a morgue on the site. The result of an international design competition held in 1997 that received 177 entries, Federation Square was designed by Don Bates and Peter Davidson of Lab Architecture Studio.

A key part of the plaza design is its large, fixed public screen, which has been used to broadcast major sporting events, such as the AFL Grand Final, and still continues to do so. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, thousands of football fans braved cold nights to watch the matches on the Federation Square screen.
The complex of buildings forms a rough U-shape around the main open-air squares, oriented to the west. The eastern end of the square is formed by the glazed walls of The Atrium. While bluestone is used for the majority of the paving in the Atrium and St. Paul's Court, matching footpaths elsewhere in central Melbourne, the main square is paved in 470,000 ochre-coloured sandstone blocks from Western Australia and invokes images of the Outback. The paving is designed as a huge urban artwork called 'Nearamnew', by Paul Carter and gently rises above street level, containing a number of textual pieces inlaid in its undulating surface.
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Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_Square
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:  37°49'3"S 144°58'9"E

Comments

  • Best public meeting place in any major city.
  • Best Public meeting place in any major RACIST country
This article was last modified 13 years ago