Design competition launched for QVM’s “Queens Corner Building”

The City of Melbourne will invite designers from across the country to reimagine both Queen Victoria Market’s Queens Corner Building and Southbank’s “red stairs” as part of a “design competition”.

The first design competition projects, part of the council’s “Design Excellence Program”, were unanimously supported by councillors at the August 13 Future Melbourne Committee meeting.

The yet-to-be-built Queens Corner Building is set to become a significant civic facility as part of the Queen Victoria Market precinct redevelopment – located directly across from the new Market Square.

The new building has been envisaged to provide a new creative, community hub incorporating a visitor centre and essential amenities, as well as supporting the activation of the square and market.

Meanwhile, a makeover of the “red stairs” at Southbank’s Queensbridge Square has also been proposed following strong community feedback to transform the ageing landmark.

This round of projects is the first to be run under the council’s new design competition guidelines, which were adopted in 2023, and will be open to Australian and international designers – with 60 per cent of shortlisted teams to be local, emerging or small design practices.

The council’s chair of planning Cr Rohan Leppert said design competitions had proven to “lift the quality of a city’s buildings and places – encouraging new ideas while supporting the diversity of designers throughout the industry”.

“We want to harness the incredible design talent and expertise in our own backyard. What better way to do that than by subjecting major public projects to design competitions,” Cr Leppert said.

With such competitions having shaped some of the world’s most iconic landmarks – from the Eiffel Tower to the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne’s own Fed Square, Lord Mayor Nick Reece shared his enthusiasm for the initiative.

“We’re another step closer to our first design competition in a generation – with a proposal to transform two prominent sites with enormous potential,” Cr Reece said.

“We know the red stairs are tired and in need of an overhaul. There’s a huge opportunity here to create a modern meeting place for Melburnians. A location that’s as well-known as ‘under the clocks’ at Flinders Street Station.”

The winning designs will either proceed to commission or receive a monetary prize – with a potential $25,000 prize for the “red stairs”, and $35,000 for the more complex Queens Corner Building, subject to the competition scope.

The competition would run for four to eight weeks in 2025, and include an open expression of interest, select requests for proposal and a final shortlisted interview. Construction of the winning designs would be subject to a draft concept endorsement from the council and community engagement. •