Citizens for Melbourne wins AIA Victorian Chapter Bates Smart Award for Architecture in Media (Advocacy Award)

On Friday 10.07.2020, Our City, Our Square won the Australian Institute of Architects Victorian Chapter Bates Smart Award for Architecture in Media (Advocacy Award) for their 2018/19 campaign ‘Our City, Our Square – for Fed Square, not Apple Square’.

Centric around the bid by Apple to redevelop part of Federation Square, Melbourne, for the purposes of a flagship store for the Melbourne CBD, the Our City Our Square advocacy bid questioned the integrity of the proposal, leading to the listing of Federation Square on the Victorian Heritage Register, an unprecedented result for a 17 year old building.

Noting its importance within the community, the Heritage Council, in agreeance with the Royal Historical Society (as noted in this article by ACAHUCH member and co-founder of Our City Our Square, Dr James Lesh) noted

Fed Square has within a generation become an “integral and essential part of the fabric of Melbourne life"

Further reading on the Heritage value of Federation Square can be seen in the following two articles:
1. Heritage value is in the eye of the beholder: why Fed Square deserves protection
2. How can a 17-year-old place gain heritage status? What this means for Melbourne’s Fed Square

More information about Our City, Our Square can be found here. The AIA awards ceremonies can be viewed here.

Header Image Credit : Citizens for Melbourne, Our City Our Square
Inline Image Credit : AAP Image/CMC/Jeremy Weihrauch)
Inline Image Credit : State Library of Victoria, CC BY