Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 9 : Construction of the cultural centre, 1977-1981

COURIER-MAIL SATURDAY M Mostly out . .of sight . of · the public, Queensland'• Cultural Centre on the•.aouth .bank of the river growing spectaculariy. ·And· ·when· it is finished, .c~rtainly !'ill be, • • . · f h '", "J . t ' ' ' ."' . ··c1 h" {' Ill UIUlllJII,,. -~ .arc I• ;.. tect Robin ·Gi~, "'a · bright ,mc,onlit 1ummer'1,cveiams and • a ~rau band pla"ni away on ·· tlli: roof 1arden here. . ?: ' • .; . • •. ', . ¥ ')fill around are kids eating .llce<rcam." '. He 'sweeps Iii, hand in the direction of · the ,lir!rc concrete'. · ,"You.know what I'd like to sec there? .: A' beaut sculptured ·. ice-cream ,r-p,rlou'r.'' He points to the middle distance. , "Or )j~t imagine. walking_ along that IIPJIQ!1Wllliway on a mOOJ11ight night to ' 'tlii' Perfonnina Art& Centre to sec a ;'4. . ' ~i::ookins acroa the river to the ~ · tbo Captain Cook Bridge. , ' .: . -. dill Caltmal•Centre .will c~ llrlib&He. · "Kai it ,rill be • IIIIUer of pride for die·~., lkjs~" ' ~1l11e-~r-olil Brisbane-born . ~Nitact,Robin Gibeon i1 ltlndlq unlit tbo liuatlo and buatlo ~!7 Ids ,patelt project - the ' ' Cultural Centre on the , aouth bank ot tbo Brilbano River. 1. ·He~b - witliout 11ombaat - or ft not 'ciilly II It It wu finished, but as , lr IJ !181 alive, a arcat collection of &ulldinp wit~ a licaiing, . thumping' heart. · . . , · Al tic ta)p ot tlie b~ "8nd and tho b<re,m plar1our·wo~:11aniling:on tho rooi of the auditorium- In the Art• Gallery section, lookinJ ,ilt, a. ipc!llbindina -view few Briabaneitcs have )'Cl seen. The concrete, ii ~ :but you get'. the impression Robin 1 01~ can already feel the grass under bis fel:t, · . · · "All this will be lawn,' 0 ' hi: says, "and it will be bo~,cd towards the edge fQr a garden area. · . . Earlier, at ,the Information Pavilion, Mr Gibson waxed, as:they say, lyrical. The timetable for the project slips easily off his lips. . . , The Art Gallery, with restaurant and auditorium, will'be opened in 1981, the Performi11g Arts Centre in 1982, the Queensland Mu~um in 1983 and the State 'Librar.~ in I984. , 1 'Calno on, • ho say,, "let me show you !he Mnll vie!':'' · . • I I I I And oft he marchca to the centre of the Victoria Bridge, safety helmets 1tavlng off nothing but the sun. He traces the outline of the Taylor Rangca in the dir.t11~cc with his pointing finger. , ~ "That's part of the natural heritage of Brisbane," he says. "and we have located buildings to try to maintain that profile. ! · ~f SOHN HAY·. ,. "The com11lex will bo very soft architecture, with plantings·all over the buildlnti," Mr Gibson has designed the southern approach to the complex to resemble an old European walled city. Cars ·will be driven under a pln1.a connecting the Art Gallery with the Performing Arts Centre, the roadway nanked by impressive buildings and two large landscaped parks. .. "We have thought in terms of townscape," says Robin Gibson. "No way have we lhought of this as just a buildina or aroup of buildin.- in isolatiQII. ·"It is a townscape and an entrance to the city." · . Back 11t the Information Pavilion, a flip through . the u!,>iquitous Visitors' Book,,where paaenby from around the world havo penned their fleeting thoughts, A dozen very imprcssivcs. A score of magnificcnts, a fantastic here and there, And even, last weekend, a grand concept, from Sir Donald Hibberd of Comalco, no' less. Before he won the job of designing the Cultural Complex, Mr Gibson had seen other projects overseas, but he has been overseas twice since to keep up with trends. h it really wise to put all one's cultural activities in one basket, so to speak? "Citica are for people," he says. "This centre is for people. It's what it's all alioui. lust 't°Jie 'Jove cif being able 10· create lor people." Yesterday the Premier (Mr Bjelke– Petersen) signed a contract for the Performing" Aris 'section of the multi• million dollar complex. "The Museum will be at the back, and it will have an environmental garden four-storeys high. The curators' offices will be wrapped round it in a U-shape. "Oh, yes," he says. "Observation throughout the world has shown ii is desirable to amalgamate most of the cultural pursuits in one centre - the Lincoln and Kennedy Centres, areas of Paris and areas of London." •ARCHITECT .ROBIN GIBSON....."Clties ire for people, and thi: Earlier in the week Mr Gibson proudly displayed the progress of his project. "From the city and the bridges, you will get a wonderful vista of the range, and all the low terraces of the building, each t:rrace full of plants, sweeping up like the ·ancient ·Inca city of Machu Piccu. · He good-naturedly jibs at any suggestion that the Queensland Cultural Complex will be Brisbane's Royal Festival Hall, or Stratford-on-Avon Theatre, or Lincoln Centre. "h's an old snying," he says, "but comparihons arc odious. This complex is not trying to.be any of those things. II has grown out of the needs of the people of Queensland." And already wowed some top brass in the ncld from overseas. Michael Straight, former chairman of the U.S. Endowment for the Arts, came to sec progress, said that when the project was nnishcd the world would be beating a path to Brisbane's door to sec it. Patrick Donnell, head of the Royal Shakespeare Company, was absolutely enthralled with it. The entire project is due to cost $45 million in 1974 terms, with a normal wages-material escalation index, and is within budget. Then It's off on the two-bob tour of the comrlex. "You don't realise how M s11 • is for people." PHMO: BOB BA The high riverbank landscaping anu the situation of the site has mostly shielded progress from commuting Brisbane. But behind the barriers, mini• bulldozers arc bu~y dozing, cranes arc swinging, · ant-like workmen arc clambering over huge walls, trucks arc delivering massive pieces of equipment, supervisors with tape measures on their bells and bleepers in the hip pockets arc striding around the site. We pick our way between scaffolding, over cables, round concrete blocks as Mr Gibson acts as guide through the current maze of walls and staircases and walkways and 1unnc!s, But amid the bustle, the Art Gallery is taking on discernible shape. Way down below, a two-storey, SOO-car p_arking . area is virtually ,complete. . . Higher up, the "grand design is becoming apparent. The theme of the complex, says Mr Gibson, is to break down the barriers between the different activities, to try to inveigle the Museum visitors into the Art <iallery and vkc•\'l'r;,1 '"You sec, people going walkway will look down and sec sculpture garden," says Mr "They'll be intrigued and say • hell can I get down there?' "We arc trying 10 get rid of 1 break down the barriers." Mr Gibson finds it hard to c enthusiasm a; he points out the features of the complex. This hall will be for 1 exhib•tions. And up there, that will be n print gallery, for photo prints. And the sculpture gard there, and seen from inside and There's a high-ceilinged roo experimentalists in art. Mr Gibson ,ays it can be sound and light dcmonsiratio holograms, mulliple image stuf Even for displafS of ~r, smoke, if that's their thins:.,:\ "It's for the avant garde. Gibson. "They always say no p made for them. So this ~ullcry that type of experiment. ' And sound-proofed, 1 disturbing othm.