A proposal for a studio, a venue and a public space for new music within Melbourne’s Arts Precinct.

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This thesis asks the question: Can architecture facilitate the flourishing of the independent music scene, and certify the continued creation and evolution of new music as an engrained locational, cultural service? It’s clear through the evaluation of the experiences of independent artists that the commodification and mass market promotion of music has limited the influence of local scenes. As such, small artists struggle to break through. This project seeks to rehabilitate the cycle of musical invention: a loop of inspiration, composition, performance, recording AND consumption in a robust scene, where artists are inextricable from their context, and community. The starving of opportunities for expression of this latent new music demands a place for performance and recording. This manifests in the proposal for a studio and venue respectively

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This thesis follows the principle of Creation Through Context as explained by the venerable David Byrne. The ways in which each building exists is interrogated through the lens of ‘influence on the state of the art’, in this way taking a stance against the stagnation of music as a commodity, instead with an emphasis on locality and experience - this is how a scene is built, and the design methodology that follows is influenced by Byrne’s concepts. The passive studio building on the south end of the site, and the porous venue against Princes bridge bound the public space and make it accessible, which in turn serves to weave these provisions into the urban context. This place as a whole must embed itself into the general consciousness in order to foster a new music scene: a local, relevant institution.

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The studio building is designed to accommodate a range of methods of recording, whether solo, with a band or with a large ensemble, taking advantage of the wealth of musical expertise in Melbourne’s existing arts precinct while remaining adaptable to new sounds and methods with large, non-prescriptive recording spaces. The double glazed curtain wall facade and interior walls offset by a wide corridor creates transparency while preserving acoustic separation, allowing the public to see into the process of music creation without compromising the musicians’ need to focus. This concept of social transparency serves to foster a music scene, strengthening the connection between the artist and their art, and the artist and the consumer.

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This allowance for new artists to record within the civic landscape must be complemented by a place for live performance, where new music can be shaped by its physical context and community, evolving what is a commitment to a static recording into a dynamic, ever-changing scene with a feedback loop of influence and invention - a new sound.

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The venue carves itself a niche within the urban landscape while preserving the slope down to the lawn from St Kilda road. It preserves a path down into the public space at river level through its abundance of circulation paths downward from the bridge. The south side of the building is structurally solid: a concrete anchor containing amenities and storage. The counterpoint is the scaffolded walkways and viewing platforms flanking the ground-level standing room. This building utilises the language of the temporary in an intentionally permanent provision for new music. This is the language of the urban grunge, speaking to the ability of architecture to influence the music performed within.

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So, what will this new music sound like when it’s influenced by this architecture? The venue’s location makes it so that intrusive noise is abundant: cars, trams, boats, planes, helicopters, wind, rain… the public - the venue exists within the urban grunge. It then follows that for the insurance of a locational, engrained music scene, this grunge should extend into the building itself: the creaky floorboards, the rattly steel scaffolds, the blowing of mesh screens and the reverberant concrete floor speak to a sound contingent on this oppressiveness. Does the new sound try to yell over the top of it? Does it try and find respite in the urban bustle? Any new music performed in the venue has a dialogue with the city itself, fostering a highly locational, radically urban music scene influenced by architecture. This contextuality does much for the resilience of such an institution: new, local artists will continue to break through in a scene that speaks to and emphasises the spatiocultural aspects of the city’s urbanism, weaving itself into the general consciousness in time.

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There is an implicit need for burgeoning scenes are concealed from the mainstream musical landscape, relevant in a place steeped in Melbourne’s mainstream arts culture which is encapsulated by the many nearby buildings, like Hamer Hall and the Arts Centre. The green construction mesh implies a work in progress, but is really a functional partition, disallowing sightlines or circulation depending on the wants of performers. This concealment need not be literal, however. The offer of an ‘alternative’ scene suggests a more democratic, adaptable institution outside of the prevailing culture. In spatial planning and affordance, the venue contrasts the deterministic layouts of Hamer Hall and the Arts Centre, instead offering no defined seating arrangement. The standing area is sloped, presenting an equitable viewing experience wherever an individual is on the floor. In extension, the perimeter walkways provide sight lines down into the performance from a multitude of angles.

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Byrne endorses a space where an audience is allowed to ignore the performance in the venue, assisting in building a scene by enabling an audience to simply be immersed in the music, not completely attentive to it, as would be the case in a determinate venue. The public can choose their angle and experience. As such, the outer walkways will be obstructed when the venue is full, giving people the ability to ignore the performance, while the inner, sloped walkways are intensified by an audience with intent. The venue distinguishes itself through this act, democratising the act of music consumption such that new music can become essential, and engrained in civic life, not separate from it.

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In addition and following the principle of social transparency, there is no ‘back stage’. Instead, awaiting performers are encouraged to wait in plain view amongst the audience - they may become the audience. Musical influence is reciprocal. Since every new artist is influenced by this shared architectural condition, the social bonds between artists, and between artists and the audience is strengthened, always pushing the scene forward.

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In order to embed this place - a local institution of new music - within the urban fabric, the place must account for a range of modes and levels of performance. It may be linear: musicians working up from busking on the streetside, to playing to a live audience within the venue, to pulling large crowds outdoors, or they may choose to remain routine buskers, or regular, integral performers. The venue’s adjacency to Princes Bridge provides a setback and eave, mirroring that of Hamer Hall - a stage for buskers and street musicians to perform sporadically to an audience of passersby. They may or may not engage, but this is the most democratic space: a living billboard. This is the most casual, smallest level of performance.

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On the other end of the scale, the river-level public space can be a passive sound stage, with sounds of practice or performance emanating from the buildings that bound it. Or, it could be active, with large, scheduled performances imposing themselves physically upon the city. While outdoors, this performance is determinate and demands attention in contrast to the streetside.

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The venue is the stage with the greatest intent. Concealed and contained, the performers’ energy and music is amplified by the intent of a more driven audience, the core of the scene. These opportunities afford new artists the ability to find their musical footing and choose their pathway. The new sound will not be homogenised, however its contextual roots will be consistent, ensuring its continuation as long as there are those willing to engage.

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To preach love, to express pain, to inspire protest, new music wants to work its way into the lives of individuals with which it resonates, and this project aims to let it. Whichever direction the art and artist go afterward can be moulded by the place - the architecture - in which this happens. The musicians take their music with them after inspiring the next, so that we are forever guaranteed ‘the new sound’.

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