Centre Place, Melbourne CBD

​

A long narrow Victorian building on Flinders Lane in Melbourne's CBD, Centre Place has been in its lifetime been a Victorian warehouse, a mid-20th century furniture department store and 21st century art studios. Its Ground and First floors now house food and drink venues and from part of Melbourne's network of laneways. It's upper three levels are unoccupied and semi-derelict: underused space in a dense city and an opportunity for renewal and re-use. Zilka Studio has an ongoing interest in adapting existing building stock in the city as an inherently carbon-frugal way to create space.

The design strategy was to meticulously document the existing building, allowing a surgical approach to removing unusable material while respecting the existing built fabric. The layers of obsolete services ductwork, derelict wet areas and random pipework are removed to reveal the generous floor space while keeping the patina of time.

The brief was to re-engage the occupancy permit with a minimal touch which meant upgraded services and circulation core that centralises the current sporadic and random services in the building creating a long footprint. The service core is strategically light-permeable, maximizing the long facade of west-facing windows. The floor plate can be used by a single tennant or multiple tennants with the possibility of having 2 separate tenancies per floor. ​

​

​