collaborative group publication

Communication and Social Relation Comm 2411 2nd Year Semester 1 Assessment Task 3 Names: Myer Emporium - Wang Yirui s3193056 Royal Arcade - Chan Wing Sze s3184976 Federation Square - Sin Lau s3195701 Street Art - Tan Ka Jin s3173588 Tutor name: Buck Rosenberg Tutorial: Friday, 14:30pm Artefacts are said the most common thing to be designed in our daily surrounding. They are made to be interpreted in the language of signs, symbolic and commercial. Our group brings in four different design artefacts such as Myer Emporium, Royal Arcade, Federation Square and Street art. We also look at their relation between Melbourne city and how do they communicate the city.

Myer Emporium holds a unique place in Melbourne’s social and retail business history. It is one of Australia’s largest retail conglomerate and retailing a broad range of merchandise. In 1911 Myer development store opened in the retail heartland of Bourke Street. It boost to the economic development of other emporium which on the Bourke Street. Myer Emporium is designed by H.W AND F.B Tompkins.

Its architectural style is Art Deco. Nowadays, although many buildings were constructed in Melbourne, Myer Emporium still remains as one of outstanding Art Deco interiors, it is one of Melbourne’s finest examples of Art Deco.

Myer Emporium’s straight lines and sharp corners are the most important elements of the structure, because Art Deco celebrates the machine-age, straight lines and sharp corners can reflect the highspeed modern life (Grow, R, P89, 2009). Furthermore, in nature, most things are in some curvy and irregular shapes, so Myer Emporium’s design conveys traight lines and sharp corners can easily make people think of men-made and advanced technique. In other words, Myer Emporium is a kind of ‘memorial’, it is not just an Art Deco style shopping store but also do important historical work in reminding us of the important histories of racial difference that make up Melbourne’s identity and inform contemporary social relations.

Art Deco emerged after World War I, ‘Art Deco Architecture in Australia’ (P5, 1997) provides a rich context about the worst effect of the depression after the First World War in America, France and Australia. The war brought the pain to people, but Art Deco brought a good spirits during that period. Art Deco presents a life style of pleasure, expectation, dreams and positive. We can say, Myer Emporium communicates the process of how Art Deco brought a good spirits to Australia and affected it. It shows us that art isn’t simply making community an amazing architecture for business but can also plays a spirited role in the war history and informs the social relations.

Nowadays, visiting Myer became a Melbourne tradition, because Myer Emporium decorated the building and interior creatively to celebrate the local and global anniversaries and events, so that it relates to the society and stands out. Christmas Windows are one of Myer’s provision of various services and events, it attracts lots of visitors come to Myer every year. Myer is dominated retailing in this area since the 1920s, there is a slogan “Myer is Melbourne”. (Rhodes, J, 2009) In other words, Myer Emporium represents Melbourne. Myer Emporium provides a good environment to the shoppers, these decorations are closely touching to them, Let people not just shopping in Myer, and they can know more about Melbourne’s culture and identity. There is Myer’s another way to communicate people and present its social relations with them.

Also, there is another shopping center -Royal Arcade that is opposite to Myer. Royal Arcade is the city’s oldest and heritage shopping arcade in Melbourne. It is located between Little Collins Street and the Bourke Street.

According to the Victorian Heritage Database website, the Royal Arcade is of social, historical, aesthetic and architectural significance to the State of Victoria. The Arcade is significant as Melbourne nineteenth century photographers, jewellers, the doll hospital, watchmaking workshop and more, all of them are Melbourne ‘institutions’. Royal Arcade shows the relationship between heritage and the city, the classical style is certainly outstanding within the Australian context. Despite Royal Arcade has many alterations, but it still maintains elegant and unique appearance. So that the traditional buildings and the classical design can remind people the past of Melbourne. This source helps us to understand why the heritage is important to the city and it’s people.

According to the article The Culture System for Planning on detail, author mentions three categories of culture in the Culturised System: ‘geography and the environment’, ‘history and intangible heritage’ and ‘society and ways of life’. History and intangible heritage relate to the past. History is the description of the past, whether the accounts are professional, popular or community based and it includes memories of the past. Intangible heritage includes the values, traditions, customs, and

attachments to place that are inherited from the past (Young G, 2008).

History and heritage can represent the identity and they stand out the character of the city. Today Royal Arcade still remains a traditional and elegant corner of Melbourne. The old style interior design is charm captured; there are many little windowed stores, which are special and different from normal shopping centers. There is another shopping center-Myer in Bourke Street. The design of Myer’s building is also classical, we can know the different centuries of Melbourne through its changes. But the interior design of Myer is modern. Myer has many famous brands, modern fashions, top label cosmetics and more. Compare to Royal Arcade, it is not only the design, but also the stuffs that Royal Arcade sells are more traditional. This is one of the reasons why people like old buildings. Compare to modern shopping centers, people might like to go old arcades because they want to remember their individual desires with their memories.

Also, the relation between buildings and streets is important too. According to the chapter The Tools of Land-Use Planning, it mentions urban design falls between the professions of planning and architecture. It deals with the large-scale organization and design of the city, with the massing and organization of buildings (John M, 2003). For example, how the building relates to the streets. In 1902, an annexe of Royal Arcade led to Elizabeth Street, the design mirroring that of the original arcade. It gets more people to go through it and allows for the opening of further businesses. So planners and urban designers are each involved with a spectrum of social, culture, and physical design issues. It helps us to understand it is not only the interior design of a shopping mall is important, but also the relation between buildings and streets style of Melbounre such as the continuity of the tradition of covered shopping streets.

“Modernity is a historical period that began in Western Europe with a series of profound socialstructural and intellectual transformations in the seventeenth century and achieved its maturity as a cultural project with the growth of the Enlightenment and later with the development of industrial society.

Modernity is associated with order, certainty, harmony, humanity, pure art, absolute truth.” (Sarup, 1996: 50, citing Zygmunt Bauman) It demonstrate modernity had presented since long time ago, it connected the cultural and development. Situated at Melbourne town centre there has had variety of modernity and historical architectures and cultural precincts, major retail centre including Myer emporium, David Jones, GPO, Royal Arcade and so on. One of the major cultural precinct in the city of Melbourne is Federation Square. Its site was a highly visible location on the edge of the CBD, opened in November of 2002, as comparison with nearly historical architecture, Federation Square emphatically in modernity design, regardless of surface structure or outlook feeling that all different inspiration compared to around of St Paul’s Cathedral and Flinder street station. In order to reveal as especially way for its design,

Federation Square geared to Melbourne’s new global role, transform the image of city, bringing the contemporary in urban design, it likely to create an Australian icon as instantly recognizable internationally in Melbourne.

The paving is designed as a huge urban artwork called ‘Nearamnew”,by Paul Carter and gently rises above street level.(Carter, Paul, 1951. Mythform, p.2-8) an immense ground design present throughout the 7,500 square metres of Federation Square subtly sloping and folded main plaza.

Actually When I visited the Federation Square at first time that really didn’t realize on the ground design, I thought just a normal text patterns on the ground floor. After read this book, I’ve got the knowledge for Nearamnew of the background. Nearamnew certainly made materially visible the structure of representation as a trace of temporality and exchanges. When pedestrians crossing its patterned surface, they are invited to participate, to stop and read the text, and feel the texture as well. Mythform is a magnificent visual essay that captures the many moods, colours and stories hidden within Nearamnew. It shows critical and popular success.

Federation Square was designed by David Bates and Peter Davidson of Lab Architecture Studio.

They had a concept to create one of the great civic spaces of the 21st century, on top of the railway yards that had divided the city from the river. This project was bravely awarded to two architects who never really built anything before. Obtain to get the great opportunity for design the innovative brand new public space in Melbourne that is honorable. On the other hand, they have facing the challenge within under a lot of pressure into the project, it is not an easy job. Each part have combine up to the part by tiny area as become together, it spend on the time, the manpower and the physical resource all significant then others, this incredible project are going to consume their life for five to six years.

Although Federation Square makes a contrast with Street art and presenting the previous art culture and modern art. Both of them are the iconic image of Melbourne. Street art is a way for people to express themselves and to mark the landscape.

It reflects the culture of the city and the local artist’s creativity. Melbourne is known as one of the world’s great street art capitals for its unique expressions of art displayed on outdoor locations throughout the city. Melbourne street art creatively reflecting the local culture and plays a key role in innovative developments within the global scene and has a reputation that attracts tourists to view the city. It became popular in inner city suburbs and along suburban railway and tram line. Street art also redesign the city and present the city life style in a creative way. It may enrich the city engage the public with witty and be able to speak the local art culture directly on wall. Street art usually reflected on anything regarded as public. It tells the different stories of the city. As Small and Nyman state that ‘ Street art may be a statement, a cryptic message that is targeted to a narrow audience, or a public declaration on life and politics. It can be humorous or threatening, satirical or

serious. The aesthetic of street art presents a creative visual view of city and labeled Melbourne as an artistic city. It enhances the city beauty and the visitation of city. On the other hand, some people may argue that street art ruins the historical city. Some messages are misleading viewer about the expected Melbourne, they are affecting the city reputation and should be considered illegal.

In fact, street art speaks the local’s thinking to public and it is a kind of communication. I believe that how do we put ourselves to legal and illegal arts, it depends on our own perception. As Lunn states that ‘ The public often consider legal pieces as clever art and illegal pieces as vandalism’. In overall, all of them are communicating and telling different stories. In addition, street art geared to Melbourne’s new global role and connect the inner city suburb laneways to public spaces. In Melbourne, laneways embellish the city and bring the communication between local residents and visitors. Street art is unique and has been designed to enhance the quality of city. Therefore, the city’s laneway art should being considered for heritage protection because it plays an important role for communication. According to The World Today (23 June 2008), Australia’s National Trust and Heritage Victoria are both supporting a move to protect the city’s street art with the idea of street art is an art form to communicate in it’s own right gaining momentum locally and abroad. More over, the National Trust has been considering it’s protection since 1999. Melbourne street art is an important part of the specturm of cultural and design activities that local residents engage with.

In overall, four of the artefacts show the art culture in Melbourne. They present the art history of Melbourne since 1910s to contemporary. They can be an iconic image as the city landmark of Melbourne and also the construction of city. They are designed in different period, yet they individually captured the actual view in the artistic culture. They also geared to Melbourne’s new global role and connect the inner city suburb laneways to public spaces.

References

ABC Network TV, 2000, [on-line], Episode 2, the public good, http://www.abc.net.au/arts/ architecture/ep_trn2.htm, access on 17/5/2010 Alan McKee 2005, The Public Sphere: An introduction, Cambridge/United Kingdom Blackall, S & Goad, P, 1999, ‘Melbourne Architecture’, Watermark Press, Sydney, Australia, P139.

Brown. R 2008, ‘Melbourne graffiti considered for heritage protection’, The World Today, 23 June, viewed 15 April 2010 <http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/23/2282978.htm> Daele, V, P & Lumby, R, 1997, ‘Art Deco Architecture in Australia- a spirit of progress’, Craftsman House, G + B Arts International, Sydney.

Grow, R, 2009, ‘Melbourne Art Deco’, Pipe off the Press, Australia, P3- P89.

John M. Levy, 2003, The Tools of Land-Use Planning, Contemporary Urban Planning, Prentice Hall- Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 Lunn, M 2006, Street art uncut, 1st edn, Craftsman House, Australia.

Paul Carter 2005, Mythform: the making of Nearamnew at Federation Square, The Miegunyah Press/Australia Rhodes, J, The Golden Age of Myer, ‘Til You Drop: Shopping -a Melbourne History Exhibition’, State Library of Victoria, 11/12/2009- 31/10/2010 Small. J and Nyman. C 2005, Stencil graffiti capital, Melbourne, 1st edn, Mark Batty, Australia.

Victorian Heritage Database –Royal Arcade, Heritage Victoria, http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/vhd/ heritagevic#detail_places;1569 Young G, 2008, The Culture System for Planning on detail, Reshaping Planning with Culture, Ashgate Publishing Limited, England