Hi folks,
Some of you may be aware of me citing the fact that Melbourne received the second gong behind Edinburgh for being a UNESCO City of Literature.
As part of the grand plan it was to have the Centre For The Written Word established this year.
Well, the happy news is that the Wheeler Centre For Books, Writings And Ideas opened last month in February.
I have not visited the center yet as I had not realised it had opened but will endeavour to do so this weekend.
In fact, author Irvine Welsh was in town today and I gather visiting the Centre to give a talk.
It's a quite fabulous concept/setup I feel and yet another reason I love living here so much.....
It will also be of interest I'm sure to those members visiting Melbourne for this year's WorldCon.
Following is a short blurb(s) to give you an idea of what to expect followed by the official link.
The Wheeler Centre
A Victorian Government initiative and the centrepiece of Melbourne's designation as a UNESCO City of Literature.
Our City of Literature status is not about Dickens on the tram, Nabokov in the Great Southern Stand or a Bronte or two over breakfast. It’s a recognition and celebration of Melbourne’s passionate readers.
We’re home to many of Australia's best and best-loved writers, past and present. We host an extraordinary network of booksellers, a diverse publishing culture and a vibrant community of thinkers. Being a City of Literature is about engagement locally and globally.
Because there’s a public conversation going on: in our papers and online, on our TVs and radios, in our workplaces and homes. Books, writing and ideas flow through Melbourne and there is something for everyone.
From 2010, Melbourne will have a new kind of cultural institution. The Wheeler Centre. A centre dedicated to the discussion and practice of writing and ideas. Through a year-round programme of talks and lectures, readings and debates, we invite you to join the conversation.
A brief visual cook's tour if you will of the Centre....quite interesting actually...
Three years in the planning, the Victorian government enlisted a number of architects to reimagine the space for its new use, beginning the design project in June 2008, and committing $13.6m for the refurbishment of the building.
When designing the space, the architects considered the building’s heritage, the centre’s identity and how the space would function.
Traditional heritage colours have been used, combined with injections of bold colour in the joinery and graphic details.
The joinery has been designed to function as a sculptural form, visually connecting spaces.
Coming up the ramp to the main door the first thing visitors will see is an ever-changing LED, advertising our events and acting as a beacon for our patrons.
The building’s main entrance is via the second floor, where the centre’s reception sits in front of the lifts, with the main performance space to the left.
The foyer features sculptural light fittings by Melbourne lighting designer Geoffrey Mance.
His 'Ping Pong' fitting was chosen for its delicacy, sympathetic to the existing interior and providing a soft light to emphasise the grandeur of the space.
From here there are internal lifts and a staircase, which take you up to the third floor, where the centre’s resident organisations are housed.
As you enter the third floor you come first to the Victorian Writers’ Centre
Next on the right are the Australian Poetry Centre’s library and meeting rooms.
Through the doors is the main administrative area of the VWC, along with SPUNC’s in-house office on the right.
Past the staircase up to the Wheeler Centre office itself, is another meeting room.
The stairs throughout the building have been highlighted with a variety of red finishes creating texture and pattern, whilst emphasising fluid circulation.
There has been an emphasis on using Australian designers and products when choosing furniture, fixtures and finishes, as in the case of the stairs, where the railings have been lined with Florence Broadhurst designs. There was a feeling that her interesting life story and classic Australian designs had a relevant place in the Centre.
Beyond the staircase is the Australian Poetry Centre, the Emerging Writers' Festival, Express Media, a youth arts organisation and the Melbourne branch of PEN, which campaigns for freedom of expression amongst writers around the world and general meeting rooms.
Here you reach another flight of stairs, which take you up to the fourth floor. Up another couple of steps on the right to the director Chrissy Sharp’s office and meeting room.
To the left of the stairwell sit the operations manager and executive assistant.
Beyond the glass doors, on the balcony overlooking the third floor, are first of the Centre’s five hot desks, where visiting or temporarily resident writers will sit, followed by five more general hot desks, for use by all the rest of the Centre’s resident organisations.
Returning to the stairwell by the fourth floor kitchen, there is a final flight of stairs up to the fifth floor, in the building’s eaves.
Here, in what was once a coin storage facility, sit the programming and marketing teams, high above the bustle of Swanston Street below.
Some six months after the Melbourne Museum left in the late 90s a library staff member discovered the room and found that the coin collection was still in place, forgotten during the move.
Apparently, once notified, the Museum dispatched armed guards to retrieve the collection.
The red staircase back down to the third floor, where the Wheeler Centre’s boardroom is located, facing Swanston Street, was once the chief librarian's office.
Continuing down the stairs to the second floor, the Centre’s the grandly-proportioned club room is found, directly below the current boardroom. Facing Swanston Street, the room will be used as a green room for our speakers and guests, and was once where the Library trustees met.
On the landing between the club room and performance space is the glass lift shaft, which goes down to first floor, where the Melbourne Writers Festival offices will be housed, as well as in-house cafe and bar.
The Melbourne Writers' Festival will also have its own entrance in the bluestone walls of the semi-subterranean first floor, as will the cafe.
Externally, the glass lift signifies the presence of the Centre on Swanston Street, designed to be a beacon that would catch the interest of passersby and draw them into the Centre.
Across the second floor landing is the entrance to our main performance hall, where up-lighting has been used, illuminating the original ceiling roses.
The space has the capacity to seat up to 200 people, or could be divided by a Hella Jongerius-patterned screen to seat 100.
The area is also licensed for up to 500 people. reference library and reception. The library is open to the general public, although only members of the VWC will be able to borrow.
WEBSITE LINK
Wheeler Centre - The Wheeler Centre: Books, Writing, Ideas
Some of you may be aware of me citing the fact that Melbourne received the second gong behind Edinburgh for being a UNESCO City of Literature.
As part of the grand plan it was to have the Centre For The Written Word established this year.
Well, the happy news is that the Wheeler Centre For Books, Writings And Ideas opened last month in February.
I have not visited the center yet as I had not realised it had opened but will endeavour to do so this weekend.
In fact, author Irvine Welsh was in town today and I gather visiting the Centre to give a talk.
It's a quite fabulous concept/setup I feel and yet another reason I love living here so much.....
It will also be of interest I'm sure to those members visiting Melbourne for this year's WorldCon.
Following is a short blurb(s) to give you an idea of what to expect followed by the official link.
The Wheeler Centre
A Victorian Government initiative and the centrepiece of Melbourne's designation as a UNESCO City of Literature.
Our City of Literature status is not about Dickens on the tram, Nabokov in the Great Southern Stand or a Bronte or two over breakfast. It’s a recognition and celebration of Melbourne’s passionate readers.
We’re home to many of Australia's best and best-loved writers, past and present. We host an extraordinary network of booksellers, a diverse publishing culture and a vibrant community of thinkers. Being a City of Literature is about engagement locally and globally.
Because there’s a public conversation going on: in our papers and online, on our TVs and radios, in our workplaces and homes. Books, writing and ideas flow through Melbourne and there is something for everyone.
From 2010, Melbourne will have a new kind of cultural institution. The Wheeler Centre. A centre dedicated to the discussion and practice of writing and ideas. Through a year-round programme of talks and lectures, readings and debates, we invite you to join the conversation.
A brief visual cook's tour if you will of the Centre....quite interesting actually...
Three years in the planning, the Victorian government enlisted a number of architects to reimagine the space for its new use, beginning the design project in June 2008, and committing $13.6m for the refurbishment of the building.
When designing the space, the architects considered the building’s heritage, the centre’s identity and how the space would function.
Traditional heritage colours have been used, combined with injections of bold colour in the joinery and graphic details.
The joinery has been designed to function as a sculptural form, visually connecting spaces.
Coming up the ramp to the main door the first thing visitors will see is an ever-changing LED, advertising our events and acting as a beacon for our patrons.
The building’s main entrance is via the second floor, where the centre’s reception sits in front of the lifts, with the main performance space to the left.
The foyer features sculptural light fittings by Melbourne lighting designer Geoffrey Mance.
His 'Ping Pong' fitting was chosen for its delicacy, sympathetic to the existing interior and providing a soft light to emphasise the grandeur of the space.
From here there are internal lifts and a staircase, which take you up to the third floor, where the centre’s resident organisations are housed.
As you enter the third floor you come first to the Victorian Writers’ Centre
Next on the right are the Australian Poetry Centre’s library and meeting rooms.
Through the doors is the main administrative area of the VWC, along with SPUNC’s in-house office on the right.
Past the staircase up to the Wheeler Centre office itself, is another meeting room.
The stairs throughout the building have been highlighted with a variety of red finishes creating texture and pattern, whilst emphasising fluid circulation.
There has been an emphasis on using Australian designers and products when choosing furniture, fixtures and finishes, as in the case of the stairs, where the railings have been lined with Florence Broadhurst designs. There was a feeling that her interesting life story and classic Australian designs had a relevant place in the Centre.
Beyond the staircase is the Australian Poetry Centre, the Emerging Writers' Festival, Express Media, a youth arts organisation and the Melbourne branch of PEN, which campaigns for freedom of expression amongst writers around the world and general meeting rooms.
Here you reach another flight of stairs, which take you up to the fourth floor. Up another couple of steps on the right to the director Chrissy Sharp’s office and meeting room.
To the left of the stairwell sit the operations manager and executive assistant.
Beyond the glass doors, on the balcony overlooking the third floor, are first of the Centre’s five hot desks, where visiting or temporarily resident writers will sit, followed by five more general hot desks, for use by all the rest of the Centre’s resident organisations.
Returning to the stairwell by the fourth floor kitchen, there is a final flight of stairs up to the fifth floor, in the building’s eaves.
Here, in what was once a coin storage facility, sit the programming and marketing teams, high above the bustle of Swanston Street below.
Some six months after the Melbourne Museum left in the late 90s a library staff member discovered the room and found that the coin collection was still in place, forgotten during the move.
Apparently, once notified, the Museum dispatched armed guards to retrieve the collection.
The red staircase back down to the third floor, where the Wheeler Centre’s boardroom is located, facing Swanston Street, was once the chief librarian's office.
Continuing down the stairs to the second floor, the Centre’s the grandly-proportioned club room is found, directly below the current boardroom. Facing Swanston Street, the room will be used as a green room for our speakers and guests, and was once where the Library trustees met.
On the landing between the club room and performance space is the glass lift shaft, which goes down to first floor, where the Melbourne Writers Festival offices will be housed, as well as in-house cafe and bar.
The Melbourne Writers' Festival will also have its own entrance in the bluestone walls of the semi-subterranean first floor, as will the cafe.
Externally, the glass lift signifies the presence of the Centre on Swanston Street, designed to be a beacon that would catch the interest of passersby and draw them into the Centre.
Across the second floor landing is the entrance to our main performance hall, where up-lighting has been used, illuminating the original ceiling roses.
The space has the capacity to seat up to 200 people, or could be divided by a Hella Jongerius-patterned screen to seat 100.
The area is also licensed for up to 500 people. reference library and reception. The library is open to the general public, although only members of the VWC will be able to borrow.
WEBSITE LINK
Wheeler Centre - The Wheeler Centre: Books, Writing, Ideas
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