The Shrine is a curious monument, architecturally, a stepped pyramid with the front of the Parthenon attached, in granite where some blocks stained with rust – BUT the courtyards are great – such a smart solution putting them in the corners. Back in about 2000 they were thinking of accessing the space under the the building, since it was built on huge brick columns, an extra artificial hill on top of the hill, at first via face-on entries on the north side, terrible idea. Then @ARMarchitecture came up with the diagonal courts cut into the (artificial) hill, both a lot more space and less intrusion, and great new views of the bldg too. And they built them in two stages, 2003 + 2012. The zigzags maybe meant to evoke army trenches, but ARM just like zigzags too. Each one has a different character and references, and you can tell what they are straight away; one is just trenches, another like a Malay jungle, another like Gallipoli and the fourth like a huge memorial. And they all angle inwards too, I think following the Parthenon-like vertical vanishing point of the shrine itself. Some photos mine, the better shots randomly found on the internet.
Storey of Melbourne 