Melbourne Museum - Key Influences and Design Approach

Key Influences and Design Approach

Denton Corker Marshall specialise in city planning and urban design, and mainly concern their practise with responding to social desires. The Melbourne Museum is situated in a unique precinct; adjacent to a large local landmark, located within a large public park. Contrasted against the neo-classical Royal Exhibition centre, Denton Corker Marshall separates the two with an events plaza, yet connects them again underground with a car park, defining their motto; “A new connection between the old, the new, past and future“. Their approach to such a prominent part of Melbourne’s historical and cultural infrastructure was to bring the past and existing exhibition building, into a new context and attempting to redefine a museums role as a public building. Denton Corker Marshall also envision the building to be just as responsive to its context as it is now, in the future. In a meeting place for community, the building itself acts as a community of different programs and meanings, combining to make a whole. In a wider context, the museum refers to Melbourne’s city grid in its planning, and integrates the landscape of Carlton Gardens; housing a Forest Gallery which is situated within the building, and also providing areas of exterior circulation around the building. Formally the Melbourne Museum is motivated by sculpture. Denton Corker Marshall manipulates sculptural forms to meet the constraints of the buildings context and program.