CIVIC HALL SITE
a community design process
NEWSLETTER
6th EDITION
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UE 8,
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CONTENTS PAGE 1 Issue #27- 6th May PAGE 11 Issue #28 -
20th May
PAGE 14 Issue #29 -
15th June
civic hall site journal edition 27- 28- 29 May/June 2015 www.civichallsite.org cover image Transition Exhibition graphics Cait Conley edit Michelle James, Ammon Beyerle
p1 ISSUE #27- May 6th Welcome to your weekly newsletter for all things happening at the Civic Hall Site. All things are go as we go green for Phase 2 of the Participatory Community Design Process. CORE TEAM UPDATE GOING GREEN You may notice a few changes at the Open Door Studio over the next weeks as we transition back into a gathering phase. We have started to re-arrange the space to prepare for the recording of your important feedback. We want to encourage everyone to come back in, if you haven’t already, to check out the 10 concepts and add to our wall of feedback.
PHASE TWO: 10 TO 5 CONCEPTS In Phase Two, we will again have a gathering stage and synthesis stage. We will gather feedback on the 10 concepts in the Open Door Studio, at the Library, online, and through workshops. Working groups are likely to be established and further user groups will be invited to participate in the process. Broken up into components, ideas will be developed further through a number of lenses and disciplines. The components will then be combined to form 5 new and more developed concepts (K to O). The deliverables at the end of Phase Two intend to include stakeholder briefs, architectural plans, and cost benefit analyses.
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PARTNERSHIP GROUP The Partnership Group has met eight times during Phase One and will continue to meet throughout the process. The purpose of this Partnership Group is to provide skills and expertise, guidance and support to the Core Team. The Partnership Group is not making decisions, but acts as a reference group - open and agile and to develop throughout the Process. Fortnightly meetings with the partnership group have proved invaluable as we feel we are building ambition through positivity. The initial membership comprises of Mayor Cr John Phillips, Deputy Mayor Cr Peter Innes, Cr Samantha McIntosh, (City of Ballarat); John Kilgour (Committee for Ballarat); and Jonathan Halls, Merle Hathaway, Rod Broadbent (Save Civic Hall). Cr Belinda Coates (City of Ballarat) and Neville Telfer (Save Civic Hall) have also attended some meetings. The membership of this group will change as the project develops. We want to say thanks to all the Partnership Group members for their commitment and we are looking forward to continuing into the next phase. MAY MILESTONES Immediate next steps for the process are the set-up of the exhibition of the 10 Concepts at Ballarat Library, presenting the 10 Concepts to the Office of Victoria Government Architect for peer design review, a report to the Council Chamber (late May) and making formal contact with the Victorian State Government.
DESIGN Here is a very small portion of the 10 Concepts – please come in to the studio to have a detailed look at the presentation boards which include hand sketches, axonometric drawings, component drawings, explanatory text, commercial modelling, precedent photos and diagrams. We would be happy to talk you through the designs in detail and show you all the layers. Design production will be on a short break whilst we gather your feedback and new ideas.
EVENTS BALLARAT HERITAGE WEEKEND As part of the upcoming Heritage Weekend, the City of Ballarat has at short notice engaged The Art of Events to organise tours inside the Civic Hall. Some of the details have changed from what has been previously advertised and the tours will now be conducted by Matt and Mairin from The Art of Events. Similarly, the weekly tours we had hoped would start next week as part of the Participatory Community Design Process are now being renegotiated with Council. For those interested in viewing the condition of the Main Hall, Lower Hall and Dress Circle, this weekend is your best opportunity to experience the building first hand. There will be a series of guided walks this Saturday and Sunday – the times are as follows: Saturday 9th May & Sunday 10th May 10:30am | 11:30am | 12:30pm | 1:30pm | 2:30pm | 3:30pm Spaces are strictly limited and bookings will only be taken on the day in the Open Door Studio, so it’s first in best dressed! Due to the nature of the building and progress on building works, these tours are unfortunately not wheelchair accessible and will require the navigation of many stairs. Please note that these tours are separate from the walking tours run by the Art Deco and Modernism Society which are also commencing at the Civic Hall and will be led by Art Deco expert, Robin Grow. For further details on these tours, please visit: http://www.heritageweekend.com.au/tours.aspx
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TRANSITION EXHIBITION Last weekend was the unveiling of the 10 concepts at the Transition Exhibition and what an event it was – a big thank you to Mairin, our exceptional events planner and all the volunteers who took time from their week to help us with the set-up. As well as the 10 concepts the event also showcased the magnificent art of Pauline O’Shannessy-Dowling and Linda Franklin with their interpretations of the participatory process. An impressive 490 people walked through the main hall over the course of the two days of the exhibition to give feedback on the 10 concepts, admire the beautiful artwork, drink the wonderful wine, eat the scrumptious food and enjoy the ambient music and lighting. Many thanks go out to: Beth Lamont for the amazing lighting design Christine Tammer for co-ordinating the music and all of the musicians involved! Sara & Tony from Kittelty’s for the incredible catering Jon from Michael Unwin Wines for keeping us all well hydrated Matt Briody for designing the awesome display walls Andrew from Cycle City for the free bike safety checks Michelle Whyte from Ballarat Neighbourhood House for running the 1 Million Stars workshop Never fear if you missed the Transition Exhibition – the 10 concepts are to be exhibited in the Ballarat Library later this month, but in the meantime we have the 10 concepts and artwork on display at the Open Door Studio (Tuesdays 9-5pm and Thursdays 12pm-7pm and Heritage Weekend).
p8 ECONOMICS WORKSHOP Think triple-bottom-line. If you consider yourself thrifty, enjoy a well thought-out budget or want to be involved in shaping how we measure broader costs and benefits of this project – save the date for our upcoming economics workshops. Pencil us in for the 26th or the 28th of May to be a part shaping this bigger conversation about the Civic Hall Site, and, if you would like to take a more leading role, please contact us directly to discuss. ART POD A big thank you to Pauline O’Shannessy-Dowling from POD Design for her wonderful artwork depicting Phase One of the Participatory Process. Pauline will be taking a break from us in the Phase Two to return in Phase Three. We miss her already and look forward to having her back! Pauline has shared with us these 3 photos which comprise 3 stages in her preparation for the end of phase 1: these are maquettes, studies & concepts for her final piece (end of phase 3).
1. the paint brushes are an image from my studio (“CHS prep”), during my preparation.
2. “CHS exhibition 2” - preparation + conceptualisation of work
3. “CHS exhibition” - a photograph of part of my installation. which is entitled, “variety is the spice of life”.
OTHER NEWS SPREAD THE WORD For this process to work it is really important that we reach as many communities as possible. So please help us by encouraging your friends and family to sign up for the weekly newsletters or drop into the Open Door Studio. This is a particularly good time to engage new people in the process as we have some very tangible things to show: 10 full print architectural concepts on display. The more the merrier! WORKING GROUPS We are putting another call out for anyone interested in leading or being a part of one or many working groups. If you have a particular expertise that you think could aid the design process for the Civic Hall Site and would like to be involved with more detailed decision-making and formulating specific briefs – please come and see us at the Open Door Studio.
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ISSUE # 28- May 20th This is a short newsletter and a quick update since our newsletter a fortnight ago. CORE TEAM UPDATE OPEN DOOR STUDIO TEMPORARILY CLOSED The Open Door Studio was closed yesterday and all of next week as we work through some preparations for the next phase of the project “10to5”.
EVENTS TRANSITION EXHIBITION IN THE LIBRARY
Last Friday we set up another version of the Transition Exhibition - including the full 10 concept presentations in the Ballarat Library. We hear that an average of 1000 visitors are likely to see it each day. This exhibition will be up until 1 June 2015 to allow as many people as possible to take their time looking at, comparing, understanding and discussing the many ideas that are in the 10 concepts. Feel free to take pictures or download the full concept boards from www.civichallsite.org. Your subsequent feedback, suggestions and ideas are welcome.
p13 PHOTOS FROM THE TRANSITION EXHIBITION Thanks to Aldona Kmiec Photography for these stunning photos from 1-2 May 2015!
We hope to see you in the Open Door Studio soon.
ISSUE # 29- June 15th
Welcome to your weekly newsletter for all things happening at the Civic Hall Site. We’ve been busily regrouping and planning after reopening the studio after a little hiatus. One key thing we are doing is developing our detailed report to Council Chamber for 8 July 2015. CORE TEAM UPDATE STAGE 1 COUNCIL REPORT ON 8TH JULY From 19-29 May the Design Process took a short pause to regroup and get perspective on Stage 1 before progressing any further. Some of you may have noticed that the Open Door Studio was also closed up to 8 June and there were fewer newsletters and social media updates from the Core Team. In this time Ammon and Michelle met with members of the partnership group, and also had three workshops with the City of Ballarat CEO, Anthony Schinck. We are now working towards a comprehensive report to Council Chamber on 8th July 2015. This report will set forth plans and resources for the next phase of the project ‘Phase 10to5’. What is the intention and scope of this project? 0. To develop Placemaking and Participation in Ballarat 1. To develop trust between community and Council 2. To develop concept designs that are feasible and beautiful
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FIRST REFLECTION We learnt a lot from the Phase One about how to undertake the process in both gathering and synthesis. As expected it was very challenging – and we must recognise both Council and our community’s courage to undertake such an innovative participatory process, and also everyone’s time and efforts so far. We took risks, we studies and workshopped big ideas, we set up new structures to work across departments in Council, and tested new ideas an approaches. The Core Team held around 150 meetings with Council Officers, local businesses and organisations in Phase 1. SECOND REFLECTION We remarked from Phase One that the shared ambition for the Civic Hall Site has lifted significantly. Conversations in and out of the studio are increasingly positive and aspirational. One of the most prevalent experiences the Core Team had since the 10 Concept Transition Exhibition was speaking to all sorts of people who recognise our success and want the project to really move ahead now in a positive way that brings people together and sees multiple uses and aspirations for the site. The Open Door Studio has seen 1200 people on regular days, and over 1800 people including events. Key action items we are developing 1. Expand/multiply the numbers and depth of people involved in the project 2. Develop direct connections between people 3. Reinforce and improve project structures 4. Address roles and responsibilities We will keep you updated on our progress in our next newsletter. Please do come and talk to us if you have specific ways to support us with this work, and please share your thoughts with the City of Ballarat Councillors who will be asked to consider this report in just over 3 weeks.
OPEN DOOR STUDIO Come in and see us on Tuesdays 9 til 5, Thursdays 12 til 7 or the first Saturday of every month 10 til 1. The 10 Concepts are on display for you to critique and shape into 5 new concepts.
MY BALLARAT Have you seen the 10 Concepts double page spread in My Ballarat?
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EVENTS LIBRARY TRANSITION EXHIBITION The Library exhibition of the 10 Concepts finished on the 12th of June! But don’t worry they won’t be moving very far - as they are coming back to the Open Door Studio, where you can come in and ponder over your favourite with a cup of tea. The 10 Concepts are also online at our website www.civichallsite.org
ECONOMICS WORKSHOP The Economics Workshop that was planned before our little break will now be on in a couple of weeks’ time. Please mark your diaries for 2 July 2015 from 5-7pm. More details in our next newsletter! See you soon!
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