ABC Headquarters
Cross-platform media production centre consisting of radio and TV studios, post-production facilities, online services, orchestra rehearsal hall, music practice studios, open plan office space, communal staff hubs, staff training rooms, boardroom, retail tenancies, loading bay, basement car park, end of trip facilities, and associated plant and equipment rooms.
Location
South Bank, Brisbane, Australia
Client
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Status
Completed in 2012
Gross Floor Area
15,000 m²
Context
The building is located in a prime location within the South Bank cultural precinct, adjacent to Brisbane’s significant cultural institutions. The site's prominent and public nature is reflected in the buildings' internal shared spaces that are open and transparent. The building has become a new landmark destination that realises the site's potential by reinforcing and contributing to the Queensland Government’s vision for the South Bank precinct and maximising activation and engagement with the public.
The ABC and the QSO are public institutions. The building's design responds to this by creating and defining open public spaces around its perimeter and by maximising transparency to and from the building, out to the surrounding streets Parklands.
Concept
The ABC Brisbane Accommodation building achieves a stimulating and healthy work environment, able to change in line with the future demands of the national broadcaster. The importance of ensuring a degree of flexibility and future-proofing for the ABC reflects the unique requirements and needs of the deadline-driven media industry.
Queensland Symphony Orchestra
The purpose-built, 600m² Media Production Studio (MPS) functions uniquely as a rehearsal space for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) and a TV & Radio production studio for the ABC.
Virtual acoustic modelling resulted in the design of operable acoustic panelling (absorbers, and reflective and diffusing elements), fine-tuned by KIRK and acoustic engineer ARUP in an iterative process. Numerous design modes manipulate operable elements and allow the MPS to cater to a diverse range of orchestral music and radio and television production.
State of the Art Facilities
The headquarter building for the ABC’s operations in Brisbane contains offices, specialist radio and television spaces with associated support spaces, a 600 m² rehearsal studio for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) hospitality and retail facilities.
Reflecting their status for the ABC and their potential to be highly visible to the public, the ABC’s local 612 Radio Studio is located in a prominent position on the corner of Russell Street and the Parklands arbour. The studios are configured, so they are highly transparent and visible from both Russell Street and the Parklands.
Sustainability
The project was awarded a 5 Star GreenStar by design rating and is targeting a 4.5-star NABERS as-built rating.
| ASI QLD and NT Steel Excellence Awards | 2014 | Steel Excellence in Steel Clad Structures |
| RAIA Regional Commendation | 2013 |
| Landscape Architect | Gamble McKinnon Green |
| Structural & Civil Engineers | Cardno |
| Electrical Engineer | Aurecon |
| Fire Engineer | AECOM |
| Hydraulic & Mechanical Engineers | WSP Group |
| ESD Consultants | Cundall |
| Acoustic Consultants | ARUP |
| Access Consultant | Access All Ways |
| Building Certifier | Certis |
| Contractor | Leighton |
| Photographer | Christopher Frederick Jones & Scott Burrows |
| URO Media | 2015 | 'From the Ground Up: 20 Stories of a Life in Architecture' |
| University of Queensland | 2014, p.1 | 'UQ Architecture Course Brochure' |
| BlueScope Steel (website) | Nov, 2013 | 'ABC Brisbane Accommodation Project' |
| Steel Profile | Nov, 2013, pp. 34-41 | 'Good Vibrations', Fraser, M. |
| Architecture Australia | Vol. 102, No. 3, pp. 78-86 | 'ABC Brisbane', Keniger, M. |
| Courier Mail | May 2012, p.63 | 'Architects raise the roof' |
| Brisbane News | February-March 2012, p12 | 'Aunty's Home' |
