Online Form Submission - Home » The Bays Precinct Sydney · Online Form Submission Title: White...

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Online Form Submission Title: White Bay Design and Innovation Precinct / Australian Design and Creative Precinct Details: "The White Bay Power Station presents a unique opportunity to position Australia as an Asia Pacific Hub for design, innovation and technology. The new Precinct would provide a perfect location to showcase the very latest in design and technology across a broad range of design disciplines including: Industrial Design, Architectural Design, Digital and Communications Design, Business Design and Service Design and Social Innovation. The transformation of an old Power Station into a modern centre for design and innovation creates a strong narrative that reflects the current evolution of Australian industry from a mining and manufacturing base into a design-led service based economy offering high value design and positioning Australia as a modern, sophisticated and prosperous country. This is not a museum, not a technology park, not the Powerhouse Museum - it is a creative precinct that allows innovation to flourish. An innovative country is grounded on deep technical expertise but it’s not enough to invest in being ‘smart’ – we need to foster creativity and create an environment where design and innovation can be celebrated. Australia does not have a central home for design - this concept presents a unique opportunity to centralise a precinct around design, innovation and creativity that is both nationally and internationally recognised. Based on a similar concept where a power station was transformed into a design and arts hub in Essen, Germany (see attached pictures) the Design and Innovation Precinct can be positioned as a home for Australia's design industry by co-loacting the offices of a multitude of design organisations such as Good Design Australia, the Australian Design Centre, the Australian Design Alliance, Design institute of Australia, Australian institute of Architects, Engineers Australia etc. The centre would also attract the interests of leading design-driven corporations such as Cochlear, ResMed, Dyson, Tesla, Lexus, Sunbeam, Breville, Qantas, Deloitte, etc. Many of these organisations would also be approached as commercial partners to help facilitate the development and sustainability of the precinct. The precinct would create an environment to offer a wide range of events and services including: - regular design and design-related seminars and events aimed at businesses, consumers, government agencies, international delegates; - exhibition services, product launch events and cocktail parties, awards ceremonies and student lectures; - design referral services, industry consultations etc; - local and international design award exhibitions and showcases;

Transcript of Online Form Submission - Home » The Bays Precinct Sydney · Online Form Submission Title: White...

Page 1: Online Form Submission - Home » The Bays Precinct Sydney · Online Form Submission Title: White Bay Design and Innovation Precinct / Australian Design and Creative Precinct ... manufacturing

Online Form Submission Title: White Bay Design and Innovation Precinct / Australian Design and Creative Precinct Details: "The White Bay Power Station presents a unique opportunity to position Australia as an Asia Pacific Hub for design, innovation and technology. The new Precinct would provide a perfect location to showcase the very latest in design and technology across a broad range of design disciplines including: Industrial Design, Architectural Design, Digital and Communications Design, Business Design and Service Design and Social Innovation. The transformation of an old Power Station into a modern centre for design and innovation creates a strong narrative that reflects the current evolution of Australian industry from a mining and manufacturing base into a design-led service based economy offering high value design and positioning Australia as a modern, sophisticated and prosperous country. This is not a museum, not a technology park, not the Powerhouse Museum - it is a creative precinct that allows innovation to flourish. An innovative country is grounded on deep technical expertise but it’s not enough to invest in being ‘smart’ – we need to foster creativity and create an environment where design and innovation can be celebrated. Australia does not have a central home for design - this concept presents a unique opportunity to centralise a precinct around design, innovation and creativity that is both nationally and internationally recognised. Based on a similar concept where a power station was transformed into a design and arts hub in Essen, Germany (see attached pictures) the Design and Innovation Precinct can be positioned as a home for Australia's design industry by co-loacting the offices of a multitude of design organisations such as Good Design Australia, the Australian Design Centre, the Australian Design Alliance, Design institute of Australia, Australian institute of Architects, Engineers Australia etc. The centre would also attract the interests of leading design-driven corporations such as Cochlear, ResMed, Dyson, Tesla, Lexus, Sunbeam, Breville, Qantas, Deloitte, etc. Many of these organisations would also be approached as commercial partners to help facilitate the development and sustainability of the precinct. The precinct would create an environment to offer a wide range of events and services including: - regular design and design-related seminars and events aimed at businesses, consumers, government agencies, international delegates; - exhibition services, product launch events and cocktail parties, awards ceremonies and student lectures; - design referral services, industry consultations etc; - local and international design award exhibitions and showcases;

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- scholarships to connect talented students and industry professionals in Australia and OS - sub-leasing of design studios, crowd funding mechanisms to promote new startups etc. In addition to a physical location, a funding incentive for industry to use Australian design services could be created. This would need to work for both start up and established firms on a sustainable basis. This is a strategy unfolding in universities such as INSEAD, Stanford and IESE and embedded in corporations like Apple, GE and IBM. Even Silicon Valley VC’s know that a hot technology is only part of the equation and are hiring designers to join engineering and management teams to create top-line growth. A central home for this sort of activity in Australia would ensure the new centre is not just a physical attraction but is underpinned by a business-led program that creates the next generation of designers, innovators and entrepreneurs in this country."

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A former industrial wasteland in Germany has been transformed into the 2010 European cultural capital. It’s already amagnet for artists and designers – and a showcase of economic renewal. The Press’ DAVID KILLICK reports.

Art showcasesprings fromold coalmine

Grimy past: Zeche Zollverein, near Essen, in the heart of the Ruhr. Once the world’s largest coalmine, the complex has become a design museum and arts centre. It will be the venue for thegrand opening of Ruhr 2010, a year of cultural events beginning on January 9. Photos: DAVID KILLICK

Bright future: Neon orange staircases lead up to the Ruhr Museum.

Industrial design: The Red Dot Design Museum designed by Lord Foster,once the boilerhouse.

Visitors can alsodine at arestaurant amidsteel andconcrete pillars. . . and marvel atthe solar powerstation.

Industrialrevolution:ZecheZollvereinis one ofthe bestplaces toappreciatethe scale ofthetransfor-mation.

Fairgroundattraction:With itsmassive steeltowers, pulleysand cogs,shafts andpipeways, theZollverein lookslike the settingfor anapocalypticsci-fi movie.Designedbetween 1920and 1932, tithas beenpreserved as aUnesco WorldHeritage Site.

The Ruhr. It doesn’tsound much like acapital, and it doesn’tsound very cultural.It’s Europe’s third

largest urban conglomerationafter London and Paris, andrepresents 53 cities and 5.3million inhabitants – bigger thanNew Zealand. Its largest citiesare Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg,and Bochum. The area’s evengot a zappy new name: the‘‘Ruhrpot’’.

Yet most people have neverheard of it. Or if they have, theythink of it as an industrial zone,which it was. From the mid 19thcentury, hundreds of steelworksand coalmines sprang up.Known as the armamentsfactory of the Third Reich (Essenwas where the Krupp factorybuilt cannons), the area wasbombed to smithereens inWorld War II. Industrialproduction boomed again afterthe war and the Ruhr fuelledGermany’s ‘‘Wirtshaftswunder’’,or economic miracle of the1950s.

In the 1960s coal and steeldeclined. Like the ‘‘city of steel’’,Liverpool, the Ruhr suffered astructural meltdown. Itsreputation for industrial squalorpersisted. People still think of thearea as a grime-infested, pollutedrust belt full of smoke-belchingfactories.

No longer. Pitheads,coalmines, blast furnaces, andeven breweries have beengradually transformed intoindustrial monuments alongwhat is now the Ruhr’s‘‘industrial heritage trail’’. Youwill find artists, designers,engineers, builders, universities,100 concert houses, 120 theatres,and more than 200 museums,galleries, and performancecentres – many of them based informer industrial complexes.

Once considered a total out-sider among cities vying forrecognition, the Ruhr has beendesignated the 2010 Europeancultural capital, and it will host afeast of events and performancesthroughout the year.

One of the best places toappreciate the scale of thetransformation is the ZecheZollverein, near Essen. GermanFederal President Horst Koehlerwill officially open Ruhr 2010 atthe site next weekend.

Sprawling over a14,000-square-metre site, theZollverein was once the largestcoalmine in the world until itclosed in 1986. With its massivesteel towers, pulleys and cogs,shafts and pipeways, it looks likethe setting for some apocalypticsci-fi movie. Designed between1920 and 1932 by architects FritzSchupp and Martin Kremmer,the Zollverein has beenpreserved as a Unesco WorldHeritage Site.

Inside, the place still pulsateswith energy, and it’s a heap offun to visit. Guided tours willtake visitors on an exploration ofthe former coalmine and cokingplant and its architectural his-tory. Twin glass and steelescalators, bathed in an eerieorange glow, lead up to what istaking shape as the RuhrMuseum.

The old boilerhouse hasbecome the Red Dot DesignMuseum, a bold redesign byBritish architect Lord Foster.

The museum celebrates award-winning industrial design withproducts from kettles to tele-phones. Cars are suspendedfrom steel girders. As you climbfrom one level to the next, youlook through the exposed steelskeleton embedded with heavy-duty gauges and dials. The rawstructure never lets you forgetthe former function of thebuilding.

Another new concretebuilding with massiveasymmetricalwindows,designed bySanaa, ofTokyo, willhouse a schoolof manage-ment anddesign.

Visitorscan also dineat a restaurantamid steel andconcrete pil-lars; take a rideon the ‘‘sun wheel’’, a giant ferriswheel built into a battery ofcoking ovens; marvel at the solarpower station; wander throughthe gardens; go skating on the icerink; and even take a dip in theswimming pool on the roof.

Classical, pop, jazz, andelectronic music concerts, as wellas dance performances and artexhibitions will wow visitors tothe Zollverein.

In nearby Dortmund weexplore the ‘‘Dortmunder U’’.The former brewery is alandmark, and hard to miss withits giant U on the roof. The Uwill stay but the building isbecoming yet another design

centre and exhibition space forcontemporary art. GerberArchitects, who are responsiblefor the project, have rebuilthistoric buildings and designedinnovative new ones in Germanyand the Middle East.

Some of the world’s leadingarchitects, including luminariessuch as Pritzker Prize winnersRem Koolhaas and Herzog andde Meuron, relished the chanceto become engaged in thefrenetic building activity under

waythroughoutthe Ruhr.BritisharchitectDavidChipperfielddesigned thenew FolkwangMuseum.

Thebuilding willfeature anexhibitionentitled ‘‘the

most beautiful museum in theworld – the Folkwang Museumto 1933’’, a reconstruction of themuseum’s spectacular pre-warart collection.

With 300 cultural projectsand 2500 events, culture fans canexpect an action-packedprogramme next year.

Other highlights will include:Odyssey Europe, in which sixdramatists will rewrite Homer’sOdyssey, to be presented in atheatrical marathon in sixdifferent theatres; the world’sfirst Biennale for InternationalLight Art; Shaft Signs, in whichhundreds of gigantic balloonswill be launched to a height of 80

metres above the ground for oneweek (the balloons will mark thelocations of former mineshafts);a day of song featuring a millionvoices and the biggest choir inthe history of German musicwith 65,000 singers; the longestparty of the year held on theshortest night of the year; a60-kilometre long banquetingtable set up on the A40motorway; and a love paradecelebrating contemporary streetand party culture.

With so many events and somany building projects underway, let alone the cultural events,all surging ahead despite theglobal downturn, one is entitledto ask: Who’s paying? The €65.5billion (NZ$130b) Ruhr.2010budget is being met by both thestate government of NorthRhine-Westphalia and privateenterprise. The five mainsponsors are Deutsche Bahn (theGerman railway), E.ON Ruhgas,Haniel, RWE and SparkassenFinanzgruppe.

The organisation and logisticsare formidable. Expectedrevenues from ticket sales areforecast to be €11 million.

However, the biggest paybackis likely to be long term, in thegrowth and vibrancy of theregion.

Once an example of the worstenvironmental effects ofindustry, it is becoming ashowcase for best-practicedesign, and co-operation acrossindustry sectors.

For other parts of the worldblighted by industrial decay, the‘‘Ruhrpot’’ is an object lesson inhow to rebuild and re-energisefor the future.