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Tag: The Avenue

January 6, 2020August 6, 2021 George Handel

A walk through the Stonehenge Landscape

Hi, I’m George.

I’m out and about in Melbourne and beyond.

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Apples and pears, Jun 2022.

Tower 2 Collins Square, Docklands, Jun 2022. Collins Square in Docklands is a commercial mixed-use development comprising five office towers and a section of a railway goods shed dating to 1889. The complex, the size of a city block, was built over the period 2012–2019 and is one of the largest commercial mixed-use developments ever undertaken in Australia. Tower 2 was designed by Hassell and completed in 2016. Leading architects Bates Smart and Woods Bagot designed the other towers.

Marina Tower (left) and Banksia Apartments, Docklands, Jun 2022. Marina Tower, designed by DKO Architects and completed in 2017, is one of Melbourne’s most distinctive apartment buildings. “Encased in a shimmering façade,” the conjoined twin towers, of 36 and 43 storeys respectively, “split at level 21 and soar skyward at opposing five-degree angles.” The result, according to DKO, is “an expressive and dynamic form that makes a distinct contribution to the rich tapestry of Melbourne Docklands architecture." A short distance away from Marina Tower is the award-winning Banksia Apartments building, designed by McBride Charles Ryan and also completed in 2017. Banksia’s façade “was developed to recall the Banksia pod, the biomimicry linking the building metaphorically to the public park in which it sits” (McBride Charles Ryan). I think it looks as much like an extravagant wedding cake as it does a Banksia pod, but the idea is nice anyway.

Dogman sculpture, St. Collins Lane, Melbourne, Jun 2022. The work of quote–unquote global public artists Gillie and Marc is ubiquitous. Their anodyne pop sculptures – often of an anthropomorphised dog and rabbit pair (‘Dogman’ and ‘Rabbitwoman’, the artists’ alter egos) – are found in Melbourne, Sydney, Beijing, Toronto, New York, London and elsewhere. The St. Collins Lane Dogman (the title of which is actually ‘He Knew This Was Going to Be a Year of Good Fortune’, but that’s such a mouthful) was installed in early 2018, ostensibly to mark the Chinese Year of the Dog – all about ‘good fortune’ (the red of the apple is a lucky colour). Far from serving public art however – or bringing good fortune (UK retailer Debenham’s only Australian outlet closed soon after) – the sculpture serves only the commercial needs of a try-hard upmarket shopping centre. Incidentally, a copy of the sculpture was to have opened in New York’s Chinatown at the same time but was deemed inappropriate by residents.

Autumn leaf, Footscray Park, Jun 2022. Today marks the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, but many deciduous trees continue to hold onto their autumn leaves.

Melbourne CBD from Footscray Park, Jun 2022. From Footscray Park one can look east along the Maribyrnong River valley towards Melbourne’s central business district, which on this occasion, during a generally cold and cloudy winter, was glowing in the late-afternoon sunshine.

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