The coalition government in the Australian state of Victoria has announced the launch of a $1 million competition to redesign Melbourne’s 1910 Flinders St. Station, the world’s busiest train station in the mid-1920s. The French Renaissance depot has fallen into disrepair in recent years, and parts of the deteriorating structure no longer meet building codes. Other sections have not been occupied since the 1970s. The competition is seeking redesigns for the station concourse, platforms, and administrative building, according to Ted Baillieu, the Premier of Victoria. A primary goal of the competition is to better integrate the four-story station with its surroundings, which include Federation Square and the north bank of the Yarra River.
The redesign competition is one of 14 projects under way at Major Projects Victoria, a subdivision of the state’s Department of Business and Innovation that had previously overseen the renovations of Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, a tennis stadium that is the main venue for the Australian Open, and the Melbourne Museum, the largest museum complex in the Southern hemisphere.
Judges for the challenge will include Geoffrey London, the official Victorian government architect, as well as a City of Melbourne planning representative and a Victorian Department of Transportation representative. Design concepts are to be submitted in mid-2012. Short-listed entries will submit more detailed proposals in 2013.
