Grishm Ganatra

The project proposes a creative precinct embedded into Caulfield's urban fabric through a sutured ground plane.

The project addresses issues of congestion, disorientation and the lived experience as it employs three distinct urban sutures conducted on Derby Road, Caulfield Plaza and Sir John Monash Drive, to catalyse the wider creative precinct. An intricate ground plane ties in the three sutures as it permeates the dense built environment through its distinct topography. Feeding off of seemingly independent urban conflicts, a unified collaborative precinct is conceived through the commonalities and discrepancies of the existing urban environment.

The project aims to resolve some of the problematic urban conditions of the existing site whilst also considering the opportunities a creative precinct provides. With interventions that focus on cultivating community culture such as the University Amphitheatre, Creative Hub and the Derby Road Retail Precinct, the project aims to curate a congenial landscape ingrained through creative programs, in turn forming an integral part of the diverse Caulfield community.

The creative precinct transforms the western half of Sir John Monash Drive into a pedestrian street, as ‘Suture A’, now comprising of a central public square that connects the eastern education and western retail sectors whilst also framing the urban fabric. Derby Road is converted into a smaller retail precinct providing double fronted restaurants and cafes that also activate the rear post office lane, forming ‘Suture B’. The intersection of Queens Avenue and Sir John Monash Drive to the east of the site now becomes a definitive university entrance, ‘Suture C’, anchored by an open amphitheatre that also acts as a major pedestrian corridor.

Forming an integral part of the creative precinct is the Creative Hub, that provides several community spaces such as bookable community rooms, co-working spaces and maker spaces situated under a traversable topographic roof. On the basement floor, the Creative Hub provides an exhibition space, a gallery for artists from the surrounding community to periodically exhibit their work. The ground floor comprises of a central atrium with bookable community rooms and maker spaces on either side of a central atrium.

The first floor of the Creative Hub comprises an open canopied public terrace that acts as an indoor/outdoor study space. The first floor also provides co-working spaces and a large community events room. The Creative Hub uses the structure of the preceding Caulfield Plaza yet is covered by a topographic intervention. The structure is infected and subsequently overcome by the ground plane as it aims to create an engaging pedestrian environment.