FROM 75 entries across the globe, an expert jury selected three teams to compete in Stage Two of the Gold Coast Cultural Precinct Design Competition. The three teams were:

• ARM ARCHITECTURE
• CRAB_VOGT_DBI
• NIKKEN SEKKEI

Following a 12-week intensive design phase, the jury met again to consider the teams’ Stage Two submissions. They unanimously selected ARM Architecture as the competition winner.

About the competition

In October 2012, the City of Gold Coast endorsed a Vision to establish a landmark cultural precinct.

The chosen site is 11 hectares of centrally-located land at Evandale, framed by the Nerang River and views to the Surfers Paradise skyline and Gold Coast hinterland.

Council’s Vision conjures a dynamic, seamless interaction between indoor and outdoor experiences. The precinct will be activated through a rich and ever-changing artistic program and energised by cafes and restaurants, production studios and showrooms for arts and creative industries.

Artscape outdoor civic gardens will interface with a New Arts Museum and Living Arts Centre. A green bridge will link to Chevron Island.

When the Gold Coast hosts the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the Cultural Precinct will showcase the city’s culture and creativity to the world.

To deliver its Vision, Council launched an International Design Competition to challenge the world’s best design teams to deliver innovative proposals that blur distinctions between architecture, urbanism, landscape and art.
To record the competition process, a video documentary was developed. You can see this here.

Architects and landscape architects were invited to register and form multi-disciplinary teams able to deliver concepts for the Evandale precinct.

An independent expert jury assessed both stages of the competition and registration is free. Key resources developed to guide Competitors - The Design Brief, Conditions Document, and a range of web based content – was available on this website. Secured technical documents were made available directly to Registrants via Dropbox.

Independent Competition and Probity Advisers were appointed along with other consulting experts to provide guidance in managing the competition.

Stage One attracted 75 entries from across the globe. More than half (55%) were led by overseas participants, 25 per cent from Queensland, including the Gold Coast, and a further 20 per cent came from interstate Australia.

Jury members were impressed by the diversity and range of design responses from the submissions received in Stage One. A summary of general observations is available here

From the 75 entries Stage One entries, the jury selected three teams to compete in Stage Two.

The three teams were:

• ARM ARCHITECTURE
• CRAB_VOGT_DBI
• NIKKEN SEKKEI

Stage Two teams were announced by Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate on Friday, 14 June 2013. To find out more about the teams visit Who's in the running.

The announcement also heralded the commencement of Stage Two on Tuesday, 18 June 2013. Stage Two involved a 12-week intensive design period in which teams were asked to further develop their design proposals and provide costing and phasing plans. Stage Two submissions were received on Monday 9 September. Each Stage Two team received AUD$250,000 to participate.

Jurors reconvened on 10 October to consider the Stage Two submissions. They unanimously selected a striking web-patterned, or voronoi, design by ARM Architecture as the competition winner.

The jury’s observations can be found here

The winning team, and design, was announced by Mayor Tate on Thursday, 21 November 2013.

A three-week exhibition of entries opened at the Gold Coast City Gallery, The Arts Centre Gold Coast, on 22 November.  The exhibition will tour other city venues during the first half of 2014.

The competition included two stages