An inspiration for a city’s heart

Carol Freeman is sold on The Hedberg, Hobart’s developing creative arts precinct

THERE is continuous noise at the end of my street: the rumble and dump of diggers, the beepbeep-beep of reversing vehicles and the grind of a giant piler. And now cranes have been erected.

There is a lot going on in Hobart’s Campbell St. The University of Tasmania’s performing arts development — renamed The Hedberg after the Hedberg Bros garage facade that still stands there — is rising above street level.

Before the garage was built in the 1920s, a small footbridge over the exposed Hobart Rivulet linked Sun St and Terminus Row. Barefoot children played in these lanes. Vans peddled rabbits and ice cream, while trucks drove down narrow Sackville St to deposit timber at the mill behind the Theatre Royal.

I spoke to the university’s project manager Terry Lockwood, who told me the new building will incorporate the Theatre Royal renovation and extension, including a studio theatre, provide a new home for the Conservatorium of Music and create spaces for the School of Creative Arts program in theatre, dance, film and hybrid design.

All this in a building that has a small footprint, a height of only 29.6m and must be constructed so it enhances the adjoining heritage theatre and does not negatively impact the residential buildings close by or the hospital across the road.

It is close to the Fragrance Group’s proposed high-rise hotel at 2-6 Collins St.

As an education and research facility that will be open to the public, The Hedberg employs design and construction experts with intimate insights into Hobart’s needs, as well as expertise in environmental solutions.

Under the direction of three partners — the Theatre Royal, UTAS and the State Government — three design firms will work on the project.

Liminal Architecture is a Hobart firm that knows the culture of Tasmania well. Director Elvio Brianese says The Hedberg will add “a contemporary layer to this site’s evolution, reinterpreting the past and ensuring the heritage buildings that abut and exist on the site experience longevity through adaptive reuse”.

A glass floor behind the garage facade will expose the foundations of previous buildings. Archaeological remnants found on site, including a Hedberg token found near the Shakespeare Hotel, will be on display. Many of the 3000 artefacts uncovered, such as ceramics from China and Peru, speak to the international destination that Hobart has always been.

Liminal invited WOHA, an architectural business based in Singapore and led by Wong Mun Summ and Australian, Richard Hassell, to support them. WOHA is known for sustainable design strategies that respond to climate change, particularly the use of vegetation in their buildings.

The Hedberg includes sky gardens — decks, courtyards and amphitheatres with plants to attract birds and insects and improve air quality.

WOHA’s ethos acknowledges local contexts and traditions, as well as highdensity projects.

Brianese says WOHA was enthusiastic about working with Liminal, and visited Hobart for an understanding of a city with heritage values very different to their own.

It’s a mind-boggling challenge to bring together heritage considerations and cutting-edge design.

ARUP is an independent consulting firm of designers, planners, engineers and technical specialists with projects in progress globally.

Originally set up by Ove Arup in London in 1946, the business was involved in the structural design of the Sydney Opera House and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. It brings together people from a range of disciplines and “encourages them to look beyond the constraints of their own specialisation”.

One of the major roles of ARUP in The Hedberg’s design is delivering the acoustic environment. Their job will be to produce close-toperfect sound quality in the auditoriums, theatres, laboratories and recording and rehearsal spaces. Their innovative Soundlab can create a virtual listening environment that allows clients to test designs before and as they are built.

ARUP will provide security, plumbing, fire protection, lighting, structure and facade engineering. In addition to their specialised engineers, they will draw on the expertise of local consultants Gandy and Roberts and JMG.

These companies stress sustainable practices as their goal. The Hedberg is modelled to perform 30 per cent better than a standard building in operational energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions.

Smart technology will alert when water or energy use rises above set parameters and include a means of tracing overuse to a space or system. All glass will be double-glazed and materials will be sustainably sourced and recycled where possible.

The building targets five green stars across all nine impact categories specified by the Green Building Council of Australia.

So what will The Hedberg look like? Its seven levels will consist of terraces and tiers with the greatest height at the rear of the building, reducing in scale to street level.

Design takes into account wind currents and climate concerns and maximises the reach of sunlight inside and to surrounding buildings.

A glass atrium joining the Theatre Royal to the new building will retain the strength of the theatre’s heritage facade. The large glass box on the corner has a similar dimension to the theatre and Hedberg garage.

Brianese says these devices give the heritage buildings “breathing space” and keep their historical integrity, while repetitions of form and scale ensure it has coherence.

Collins St from Campbell St to the Brooker Highway has been prepared for students

and pedestrians when The Hedberg is complete in 2019. When apartments were built nearby in the 2000s, footpaths were widened, electricity was routed underground, lighting that echoed the history of the area was installed, as were benches and trees.

The Wapping History Wall across the end of Collins St narrows the entrance to the Brooker and creates a place for children to play, walk round the wall and ride bikes, as our grandchildren have done here.

Music will waft into surrounding areas, street performers will enliven the lanes and a video wall in the vestibule on the Campbell/ Collins St corner will advertise performances.

It is imperative the neighbouring site on the corner of Collins St and the Brooker does not impede this human-scale environment.

I urge Hobart residents and planners to see this project as an aspiration and inspiration for future city development. Carol Freeman is a freelance writer and adjunct researcher at the University of Tasmania.