At long last, the names of the shortlisted finalists for the highly acclaimed architecture competition to redesign elements of Melbourne’s iconic Flinders Street Station have been released.
The competition garnered so much national and international attention and interest that even Minister for Major Projects Dr. Denis Napthine admitted to being surprised. Napthine did, however, admit that developing a competition in order to garner mass appeal was a major goal for the competition founders.
“This competition has always been about finding the best local and international talent to re-invigorate Melbourne’s iconic Flinders Street Station precinct and looking at this shortlist I think we’ve managed to do that,” he says.
The shortlisted entrants mimic this appeal for international and national collaboration, with the successful tenders coming from a majority of collaborating parties. They are as follows:
- Ashton Raggatt McDougall of Melbourne
- John Wardle Architects + Grimshaw of Australia and the UK, respectively
- HASSELL + Herzog & de Meuron of Melbourne and Switzerland, respectively
- NH Architecture of Melbourne
- Eduardo Velasquez + Manuel Pineda + Santiago Medina of Columbia via the University of Melbourne
- Zaha Hadid Architecture & BVN Architecture of the UK and Melbourne, respectively.
The shortlist includes some of the most acclaimed and popular architects both nationally and internationally.
“The short list covers some of the world’s best architects such as Hassell + Herzog & De Meuron and Zaha Hadid, renowned local firms Ashton Raggatt McDougall and NH Archtiecture and emerging talents Eduardo Velasquez, Manuel Pineda and Santiago Medina from Columbia,” says Napthine. “Between them, this group is responsible for some of Melbourne and the world’s most renowned buildings including Hamer Hall, Beijing’s National Stadium used in the 2008 Olympics and Rome’s Museum of XXI Century Arts.”
It is due to this ‘starchitect’ interest that competition jury chair and Victorian State Government architect Professor Geoffrey London is confident that the redeveloped icon will become a major success.
“Given the complexity and scale of the design challenge, the high overall quality of submissions made the jury’s task of short-listing a difficult one,” says London. “However after carefully applying the competition evaluation criteria, the jury is confident that the six short-listed teams represent the strongest propositions for the redevelopment of this precinct, much-loved Melbourne icon and intensely used transport hub.”
London admits that the entire jury looks forward to seeing the evolution of these six contending concepts as they evolve over the next few months.
With the final stages of the competition well underway, it will now be a waiting game to see which of these highly acclaimed design teams will come out on top and win the $1 million prize pool.
