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FEDERATION SQUARE
Other NameFed Square Location2-20 SWANSTON STREET MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE CITY
File NumberHE/11/3017LevelRegistered |
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
Federation Square, designed and constructed between 1996 and 2002, including footings and crash walls between the rail lines; decking over the rail lines; the passive air-conditioning system known as the Labyrinth; the catenary lighting system; landscape elements, including the paved Plaza incorporating the artwork Nearamnew, inscriptions in the bluestone steps and apron facing St Paul’s Court, planters and Yellow Gum trees (Eucalyptus leucoxylon ssp. megalocarpa ‘Rosea’); and buildings (exteriors and some interiors, notably the NGVA interiors).
How is it significant?
Federation Square is of historical, architectural, aesthetic, cultural and technical significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register:
Criterion A
Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history.
Criterion D
Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural place.
Criterion E
Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics.
Criterion F
Importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.
Criterion G
Strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. This includes the significance of a place to Indigenous peoples as part of their continuing and developing cultural traditions.
Why is it significant?
Federation Square is of historical significance as Victoria’s preeminent memorial to the Federation of Australia (1901). The principle of federation is embedded in the design and planning rationale for Federation Square. The precinct was conceived as an ensemble where no single entity or cultural institution was dominant, and where each component part would have its own identity within the ensemble. This aspiration is expressed in the façade treatments which are based on the ‘Conway Tessellation’, a single triangular element that can be applied in an infinite number of compositional sequences and at multiple scales to achieve variety (or difference) within a coherent whole. Federation is referenced in the Nearamnew artwork by Paul Carter which forms part of the Plaza, and inscriptions in the bluestone steps and apron facing St Paul’s Court. Federation Square is also of historical significance to Victoria as a tangible expression of Melbourne’s long and deeply held aspiration for a large public square for ceremonial, civic, and recreational purposes in the city. (Criterion A)
Federation Square is a notable example of a public square. While it is a mixed-use precinct, the primary function of the place (and a defining aspect of its identity) is as a public square. It is a fine example of its class and displays high quality characteristics including a large, hard-paved and centrally located open space connected by laneways and framed by built form. It is distinguished by the distinctive, coherent and finely resolved architectural language of the principal building’s secondary skins which variously embody aspects of the design principles that underpin Federation Square; the design principles are also expressed in the interior of NGV Australia. The place is also highly valued by groups within the community, another typological characteristic of public squares. (Criterion D)
Federation Square is of significance to Victoria for its aesthetic and architectural qualities. The precinct is a visually distinctive arrangement of non-orthogonal forms that uses a design grammar of lines and fractal geometries to achieve a complex aesthetic of coherence and difference. It is the outcome of a theoretical approach to architectural production informed by LAB Architecture Studio’s intellectual interests, including a rejection of classical (Euclidian) ordering systems and an engagement with the complexities of twenty-first century urban environments. Federation Square is one of the most awarded projects in the history of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) Victoria, and has been critically acclaimed in state, national and international architectural publications. (Criterion E)
Federation Square is significant for its technical and creative achievements. It demonstrates a high degree of creative achievement specifically as related to the innovative architectural language adopted. This language, incorporating non-orthogonal geometries and embedded digital information systems, was innovative and beyond the ordinary for the period (late-1990s). The processes of design and construction (including computer-assisted drafting and 3D modelling techniques), the sustainability systems employed (notably the Labyrinth) and the structural solutions for the crash walls and decking over the railway lines variously demonstrate a high degree of technical achievement as conceived and delivered in the late-1990s. (Criterion F)
Federation Square is socially significant and is valued by communities and cultural groups for a range of cultural and experiential reasons. It is Victoria’s preeminent civic space for formal and informal public gatherings and is regularly used in times of celebration, grief and protest. Federation Square is used and appreciated by communities of locality (the Victorian and/or Melbourne community); affected communities (including visitors to Melbourne); communities of identity (communities for whom the use of Federation Square is part of an annual cycle of events that enables these communities to reaffirm their identity in a prominent public setting); communities of interest (including communities that aim to affirm Federation Square’s civic purpose); and communities of practice (including communities who engage with the site’s cultural institutions and sports enthusiasts) (Criterion G)
Group
Community Facilities
Category
Civic Square