1 December 2025

The new City Square, better than I was expecting! It’s smaller now, but has planting along both sides, with long benches facing the open area, much more like a small European square. A better feel than a large space only used sometimes for events. As I keep saying, that’s what Fed Sq is for, only a block away. I like the paving, in small blocks of varied colour (though I’m disappointed it doesn’t have the spouting water feature originally suggested). All the boundaries of the planters are also seating, and they feature Victorian gum trees, grass trees and native flowers. The domed thing is over a bronze dish for smoking ceremonies. I note that there’s now just more footpath where there was once a second row of plane trees along Swanston, and there’s a large structure at the south end that will be a cafe. The Burke & Wills statue once on the corner is not returning, I read somewhere it’s now thought too colonial, but the official reason was not enough room. The huge canopy at the north end lets in filtered light, and there’s more seating around the escalators, with etched words in Woi-wurrung. There’s a wall along Collins to deal with the changes in level, which has a digital version of the wonderful Mockridge fountain once in that spot. It doesn’t have nearly the same effect, but I bet someone said ‘a wet footpath is too dangerous’. It all feels super spacious, built for crowds that may eventuate when melb is 7 million ? The lifts and vents are in a dark coloured thing which does a good job of being visually recessive. It feels a bit weird that absolutely everything is light grey, but the bluestone will darken, the plants will grow, and there’ll be cafe umbrellas. I still think my idea of just having buildings, with shops, an arcade, a courtyard, and maybe a library above, would have been good too, but I guess I quite like this. (Oh except that the dreadful Westin hotel is back full force).

22 November 2022:

I was wondering what the new City Square was going to look like and realised the plans I have from 2017 are probably it – much the same as before, but about 1/3 taken up by the escalators and lifts and a flat area to get to them, all covered by a big glass roof (final design uncertain).

There’s a bit more grass, a nice spouty water feature in the middle, while the lifts and vents are just flat clad in bluestone- it’s all very uninspired, especially compared to the stylish and impressive station hall below. And they’ve got Burke & Wills behind the tree line instead of on the corner (but perhaps that’s ok if you think they’re just a couple of old white male idiot explorers). But surely the design could have some spark ? And at least we should should know what the design is !

But personally I’d rather see the site as cafes and lanes and buildings with interesting functions upstairs such as the city library – we don’t need the city square at all, we’ve got fed square, and we’ve lived without it for 6 years! But the City of Melbourne expects/wants the city square back, they did a brochure outlining what and why in 2017, wonder if they still think so ? The open space is for the 36 events /year they had then, mainly things to do with festivals, though they only specify the fashion festival, and the Christmas tree/market (now at fed sq).

Photos from metro tunnel authority March 2025, canopy exactly as proposed. I like the underground stuff better.

18 August 2025

The canopy for the new Town Hall Station looks complete, and I quite like it. It’s very big but quite elegant and not bright colours like some of the other bits of the new stations. I’m pleased to see its glass but with louvres to block the summer sun. I think it was designed by @rshparchitects, but Weston Williams and @hassell_studio are also in the partnership.

The thing I don’t like is that it’s over the lifts and escalators which will take up a large part of the square, which shrinks every time it’s rebuilt. Though personally I don’t think we need a square at all, I mean Fed Square is one block away – I think it might as well be built over with shops, an arcade, maybe a courtyard, studios or offices or a library above.

I do like whats under the square though, a huge cavern with concrete versions of the angled struts. At least I think they’re concrete. Which would have been good with some skylights now I think of it.

• Uncategorized