Building The Unfinished - The Victorian Pride Centre
Building The Unfinished - The Victorian Pride Centre
The Victorian Pride Centre is a five-storey building located in the iconic beachside suburb of St Kilda.
Designed by Brearley Architects & Urbanists and Grant Amon Architects, the centre, the first of its type in Australia, received the prestigious William Wardell Award for Public Architecture (2022) from the Australian Institute of Architects (Victorian Chapter) and won a National AIA Award for Public Architecture along with being shortlisted and presenting for the World Architecture Festival just completed in Lisbon.
The result of a design competition that commenced in 2017, and with four councils considering a centre, it found its home in St Kilda: a place, according to architect James Brearley “…. where the various communities using the centre would feel comfortable and safe…..and with its own exotic history of architecture….”
“St Kilda is very much about exotic architecture, Moorish architecture, the architecture of otherness, the architecture of escape, the architecture of suspended disbelief. We looked at some way to capture that and express that in a contemporary way…..….” James Brearley
The design process involved consultation with several stakeholders, including the City of Port Phillip who owned the land, First Nations representatives and the LGBTQI and broader St. Kilda community.
Join our expert panel for a discussion on the challenges of bringing this project to life as a place for the LGBTQI and the local community to gather.
Importantly, the project has achieved a high ESD benchmark score according to the BESS Built Environment Sustainability Scorecard. Initiatives were achieved in the areas of energy, water, health, and ecology.
Attendees will be introduced to the various processes involved in bringing the environmental initiatives mentioned above through to fruition. They will be introduced to the sustainability management plan and its incorporation into the planning permit. Accreditation systems such as Greenstar and EarthCheck will be introduced.
This part of the webinar will align with the training requirements of the NSW Architects Registration Board Sustainability, life cycle assessment and whole life carbon.
The webinar continues with Mecca’s theme of "endurance architecture" focusing on complex projects requiring vision, creativity, and perseverance.
Our Expert Presenters/Panel
James Brearley
BAU Architecture
James Brearley Adj. Prof., BArch, MPD (Urb.Des.) is the founding director of BAU, an architecture, planning and landscape architecture practice with offices in Melbourne and Shanghai. James is Adjunct Professor at RMIT University, Melbourne, and a member of the Planning Institute of Australia and the Australian Institute of Architects. He is a registered architect of the ARB, Victoria. James has more than 29 years of post- graduation experience. He has designed and realized numerous award-winning projects in Australia and China. He has led the design of several built projects with a value in excess of $A 300million. James has directed the BAU urban design team on numerous competition-winning designs for districts with projected population in excess of 100,000. James is the co-author of Networks Cities, an investigative design publication of research, theory and practice of contemporary Chinese urbanism. He regularly lectures on architecture and urbanism at RMIT University, and at various other universities in China and Australia. He has been a keynote speaker at several urbanism conferences and has participated in a range of international exhibitions and forums including representing Australia at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2010. James’ areas of focus include the re-thinking of architectural programme, the creation of inclusive public space, and the design of eco-cities
Grant Amon
Grant Amon Architects
Grant’s involvement in design has spanned a variety of projects ranging from residential and commercial fit outs through to the hospitality industry with a range of restaurants, hotels, bars and cafes. The practice is based in St.Kilda, and actively pursues an ongoing interest in spatial manipulation, the crafting of objects and incorporation of local references and histories. Recently expanding to include larger scale multi- use projects, including inner urban renewal, coastal and alpine resorts, tourism, landscape & retail projects, GAA capabilities are broad based, flexible and environmentally responsible. With a high emphasis on design particular to each project they aim to produce unique and efficient solutions for our clients. Established in 1993, GAA is a multi-award-winning practice with projects widely published both in Australia and abroad.
Justine Della Riva
CEO Victorian Pride Centre
Justine Dalla Riva is a passionate professional whose career spans both the commercial and not-for-profit sector. She is the CEO of Australia’s first purpose built LGBTIQ+ Pride Centre located on Fitzroy Street in St Kilda. A proud lesbian and mother of two, Justine joined the Pride Centre in 2018 and became its inaugural CEO in 2019. Justine is passionate about inclusion, equity and access for all, ensuring spaces are welcoming and safe for vibrant and diverse LGBTIQ+ communities so they can be their true and authentic selves. She seeks to celebrate diversity, harnessing diverse lived experiences to innovate, collaborate and create more cohesive and respectful environments. Justine is a member of the City of Port Phillip LGBTIQ+ Advisory Committee, Fitzroy Street Business Association and Director of the newly established Pride Fund Ltd that seeks to grow the philanthropic pie for LGBTIQ+ spaces and places. A lifelong learner, she holds a Diploma of Governance, Masters in Marketing, Graduate Diploma in Graphic Design, BA with Hons and was a graduate of the Victorian Government’s 2019 LGBTIQ+ Leadership program.
CPD - Participation in this webinar will deliver 2 formal CPD points.
Learning Outcomes - at the conclusion of this session attendees will be able to:
List 2 examples of how the designers translated the cultural narrative into a design outcome that was incorporated into the building fabric
Explain the importance of site context and location for translation throughout the built form
Explain some of the key challenges of the novated design and construction process in achieving the architect’s intent
List 3 key features of the architects’ sustainability management plan and how these features were implemented into the project
AACA Competencies:
PC 12 ( Practice Management and Professional Conduct) PC 26, 29 & 34 ( Project Initiation & Conceptual Design)
