How can micro-architecture or small urban sculptures bring life to the city?

The Edward Street Vitrines introduce two pieces of ‘urban sculpture’ to the footpaths of Edward Street in Brisbane’s Central Business District. Conceived in collaboration with the Brisbane City Council, the two bespoke glass vitrines showcase a revolving arts program to enliven the daytime and night-time activity of the city’s fashion precinct. The Edward Street Vitrines create a captivating footpath gallery generating big impact from small footprint insertions in the city.

What detailed design elements were employed to resolve aesthetic and functional requirements?

The Vitrines were designed to be robust enough to handle the traffic of the street, yet elegant enough to reflect the context of the fashion precinct of Edward Street. Materials such as coloured concrete were employed to bring a robustness in both expression and structure.  Patterns imprinted in the concreted, created using pressed-metal, reference the historic pressed-metal ceilings of the area. The requirements for displaying artwork within each vitrine called for detailed consideration to design and deliver:

• Recessed floor boxes for power
• Track lighting
• Grid ceiling for suspend items
• Floor box plinths for individual display of items
• Ventilation to control the humidity of the interior environment.