PROJECT: MELBOURNE CHINATOWN
LOCATION: LITTLE BOURKE STREET, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
CLIENT: CITY OF MELBOURNE
AWARDS: AILA MERIT AWARD
Mark McWha was involved in the original design and documentation of the Little Bourke Chinatown from as early as 1976 as an architectural graduate in a team of only three designers with Melbourne University head lecturer Ta Wen Chu. And then latter in his multidisciplinary practice GSFC and partners in 1984, just prior to commencement of what is now FORMium, and then again in the 1990’s. Interestingly, the gateway arches, were originally intended to be ‘doored’ with giant timber gates, so that the precinct could be closed to traffic at lunchtimes, evenings, and at weekends and festivals. The following images show some of the original sketches for the arches, and for the Cohen Place Chinese museum precinct. The final construction was undertaken by the Guangzhou Monumental Archway and Garden Company. Coincidence or fate, that in the following decade we would have an office in Shanghai, with projects all over China.
