There is surely a book in the history of the grand red brick monument that is today home to the Victorian Institute of Sport in Albert Park.
For a start, it is at once old and new. An architectural dame of a building on the outside and a cutting-edge testing ground on the inside where many of the nation’s best athletes and high-performance staff strive for the impossibility of sporting perfection.
The more well-heeled spectators who attended the 1901 VFL grand final between Essendon and Collingwood at Lakeside Oval cheered from the sharp rise of what was then a somewhat luxurious grandstand that was in turn rebuilt in 1928. (The revered Albert Thurgood kicked three goals for the Dons and led them to the premiership.)
Much later, in the 1990s and early 2000s, the bowels of the building were the chic setting for a nightclub, Redheads, and the manicured turf inside of the championship running track outside is where Ange Postecoglou once plied his trade as a player and coach of South Melbourne FC.
Some of this rich history, and specifically the architectural significance of the building that is Victoria’s high-performance home, was recently told to an audience which visited the VIS as part of Open House Melbourne (OHM) weekend.
OHM weekend celebrates design by opening up a diverse range of buildings, places and spaces with the aim of inspiring public engagement in conversations about the future of the city.
Apart from tours of the VIS, H2o Architects Tim Hurburgh and Stefan Frey explained to the audience how their redesign and refurbishment of the building married contemporary use with its history.
Meaningful old pieces of the site were retained or repurposed with inspiration drawn from the building’s many guises.
The 1928 heritage grandstand was kept, for example, but with the addition of a 50m indoor running track and gym extensions. The original whitewashed timber seats in the grandstand were reused as the cladding for the two levels of offices under the refurbished old stand roof.
Nods to the various sports and organizations were included in other design features, among them a tip of the hat to VFL’s South Melbourne which, in 1982, left the Lake Oval for a new life in Sydney as the Swans. The iconic red vee of the South Melbourne/Sydney jumper is reflected in the precast columns and supports for the refurbished stand.
On the exterior of a new structure abutting the old is a hexagonal soccer net weave, which serves as the jointing pattern for new wall elements and a reminder of South Melbourne FC’s rich and continuing connection to the site.
While Hurburgh and Frey discussed history and architectural points of interest with the audiences, VIS staff including Olympic sailor Tess Lloyd and VIS Director of People and Community Dan Simons led tours of the building.
“I absolutely love welcoming the public to the VIS and sharing what we do,” Lloyd said.
“It was amazing to see such a great turnout of people eager to learn about our space and ask a wide range of questions.”
