PROJECT OVERVIEW
Designed by Denton Corker Marshall, an architectural firm responsible for many of Melbourne’s larger buildings through the early 1990s, it quickly became a city landmark. This was in no small part due to its distinctive appearance: a tilted, metal blade—supported by a pair of yellow sticks—which marks the main entrance.
By 1998 it was joined by the glass Spencer Street Footbridge, a structure connected to the larger, cantilever bridge of the same name. 2009 saw its next major addition. The Melbourne Convention Centre opened on land adjacent to the Exhibition Centre; and together, these venues now offer one of the most dynamic event spaces that Australia has ever seen.
Together, the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centres encompass 70,000 square metres and consist of 63 meeting rooms, outdoor courtyard spaces and a Plenary that can be divided into three separate theatres. This isn’t to mention the Goldfields Theatre, a 9,000 square metre multi-purpose event space with a retractable 1,000-seat theatre, or the 39,000 square metres of pillarless exhibition space.
OUR ROLE
PSV has also played a pivotal part in the history of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. This included the independent peer review and certification of its buildings’ structural designs and the designs of associated buildings within the South Wharf precinct. Where the Exhibition Centre was concerned, this also included a particularly noteworthy challenge: the assessment of the building’s large span 3D trusses.
