Includes the historically significant Court No.1 of the former Federal Court
Stakeholders were unanimous that the Supreme Court of Victoria should be consolidated and remain on its existing site. The proposed redevelopment, currently the subject of a heritage application, encompasses 31 new courts and 17 existing courts including retention of the historically significant Court No1 of the former Federal Court.
The challenge will be to provide the long-term requirement for a working Supreme Court complex that meets present day standards and functionality without obliterating the social and historical heritage embodied in the existing buildings. A new Supreme Court entrance is proposed to be located on Lonsdale St using the laneway to provide a new covered access to a main foyer at the base of the new building. A new glazed roof over the existing historically significant courtyard will link the old and new with a remarkable new public space interior.
In a heritage setting there is often the requirement that new buildings do not rise above historical buildings so as not to overwhelm them. The Supreme Court is currently viewed against the blank 13 storey high brown brick wall of the Telstra Exchange Building. In this instance the most successful resolution is to seek a built form masking the Telstra Building and ensuring the final composition of building elements is variegated enough to reduce the overall mass.
As it rises above the Supreme Court the new building form will be expressed as three elements of slender proportion. The western element containing public space rises to 10 levels and presents the principal wall or background against which the historic Supreme Court is read. This proposal imagines a new court building of independent modernity that will rise to mask the Telstra wall, extend the courts functional use and establish a mutual dignity between both buildings. A new and finely articulated surface stretched over a composition of three vertically organised building elements will provide an appropriate new background for the Supreme Court. The proposal still requires full funding before the redevelopment can proceed and the drawings are of a concept nature only.
