The Atrium at Federation Square by Lab Architecture Studio – Hannah

The Atrium is part of the Federation Square which is located in Melbourne, Australia. It was design by LAB architecture studio, from London, in conjunction with Bates & Smart, a local Melbourne firm. with principle architects Donald L. Bates + Peter Davidson. The Atrium covers 3,250 square meters in the Federation Square which is 44,000+ sq. meters total. It opened in October of 2002 after starting construction in 2000.

The concept behind the project:

“the architects developed a grid system that allowed the building facades to be treated in a continuously changing and dynamic way, while simultaneously maintaining an overall site coherence, instead of being traditionally composed as a regularly repeating flat surface.” ARCspace.com

“within an architecture of difference and coherence, the design has brought together these disparate institutions and allowed their true differences to be registered in the developed geometries, while also maintaining a visual and formal coherence across the site… federation square integrates a broad range of civic, cultural and commercial activities, responding to the vitality and openess of daily life.” LAB Architects

The exposed metal structure and glazing patterns in the atrium follow the pinwheel tiling pattern used elsewhere in the precinct's building facades.

Open, without doors at the northern and southern ends, the Atrium is a large, high volume public thoroughfare and covered meeting space 16 meters high and 16+ meters across, that allows 24 hour access across the site of Federation Square as well as forming a link from Flinders Street down to the Yara river.

The project Utilisizes a limited number of standard components a series of non-uniform frame shapes have been developed to form a continuous structure. The lattice supports glass panels on both its inner and outer faces. The structural galvanized steel frame encloses the glass pieces that create the pattern of the atrium. The Architects used CAD programs for the design plans but I was not able to find out which one they did modeling with or what exact fabrication techniques were used.

Included: Floor Plan, Elevation, Images of the construction process & pictures that I took this summer when I visited the actual site :)