The
impressive image below the bold headline DEMOLITION . . FESTIVAL HALL
attracted attention. The Guardian article was perused. The
report was that Melbourne's historic, some say iconic, Festival Hall
was to be demolished. The site is to be redeveloped. The
architectural rendering illustrated the proposed apartment complex -
but not all was to be lost:
The redevelopment
plan includes demolition of most of the hall but the retention of the
Dudley street facade, the boxing ring and stage.
The logic for this
gesture, "keeping those historical items," was explained by
the architects as a “celebration” of the cultural aspects of
the site. Just what this might mean, and how it might be so,
remains a puzzle. Does the isolation of sundry parts of a building
become a 'celebration'? Does the maintenance of parts of a ruin
constitute jubilation, some ritual
social affair, or a gesture to remembrance of things past?
The redevelopment's statement seems to try to clarify the position by
expanding on the logic:
"Festival Hall
is a performance venue – we believe that we need to harness the
emotional aspects of this venue and apply it through a filter of what
it means to live harmoniously.”
The statement is
confusing and compounds the complexity of any understanding. As a set
of words, it seems that it is trying to say something profound –
but what? Is the text suggesting that the building has to be
dramatic, exhibitionist, a performance in itself, 'to harness the
emotional aspects' of what was once there? How does this equate with
the idea of living 'harmoniously' when 'emotions' have been
'filtered' through something, whatever, whenever?
It is all very
enigmatic. How do these architectural words explain anything? One
could perhaps read this as being a sensitive response to the past,
but the next sentence says that the past has gone:
There are no plans to
build a replacement performance space on the site.
So
are the buildings being asked to 'perform' in this 'celebration' of
'emotional, filtered harmony'? The images certainly seem to suggest
this with their boldly sculptured massing and spectacular shaping;
but how does 'living harmoniously' become a driving force in this
performance model – the simple experience of being, and being
content, living together, sharing, when the ambition appears be to maximise
the unique, visual drama of the place?
If
words are to be useful in explaining matters, rather than merely
muddling them, they need to be precise and crystal clear, like the
architecture they seek to rationalise.
The
New Zealand poet, C.K.Stead translated the Straits Times
Quotation from the Chinese text in his Collected Poems 1951-2006,
AUP, 2008, p.145:
Clear
writers, like clear fountains, do not seem so
deep
as they are; the turbid looks most profound.
-
Landor.
Clear architects are the same - ‘the turbid looks most profound.’
It is certainly easy to make things turbid, apparently meaningful; it
is extremely difficult to make things clear, lucid: but it needs to
become the profession’s singular purpose and aim if architects are
to be not only understood, but also respected. Self-indulgent fantasies do not help.
THE
REPORT
Demolition plan to bring curtain down on Melbourne's Festival Hall
Proposal for apartment
complex includes demolition of most of the famous performance venue
Australian Associated
Press
Tue 23 Jan 2018 12.26
AEDT
It may have hosted the
Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Johnny Cash in its heyday but if
developers get their way, Melbourne’s Festival Hall will be
demolished to make way for a $65m apartment complex.
A planning proposal has
been lodged with Melbourne City council for two apartment towers (one
of 16 storeys), shops and an office space at the west Melbourne site.
The redevelopment plan
includes demolition of most of the hall but the retention of the
Dudley street facade, the boxing ring and stage.
Southbank-based
architects Rothelowman said keeping those historical items was a
“celebration” of the cultural aspects of the site.
"Festival Hall is a
performance venue – we believe that we need to harness the
emotional aspects of this venue and apply it through a filter of what
it means to live harmoniously,” the redevelopment’s vision
statement reads.
There are no plans to
build a replacement performance space on the site.
Built by Melbourne
businessman John Wren in 1915, Festival Hall became known as the
House of Stoush due to its popularity as a boxing and wrestling
venue.
It was destroyed by fire
in 1955 but rebuilt in time for the 1956 Olympic Games where it
played host to the gymnastics and wrestling.
It has since hosted
hundreds of local and international acts including the Sex Pistols,
Oasis, Soundgarden, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and American rapper
Kanye West.
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