Victoria Street Gateway project was initiated by the City of Yarra and Richmond Asian Business Association (RABA) with a focus on Vietnamese and Asian identity, culture and tradition. As a public art project, it creates a setting for major street festivals and provides a safe and vibrant public space for the wider community. The project involved an intense collaborative design process resulting in four main elements weaving a dynamic complimentary sequence of images and stories.
The major gateway addressing the Hoddle Street and Victoria Street junction creates a formal threshold of welcome to the precinct, expressing hope, courage and transformation through the story of the ancient origins and recent migration history of Vietnamese Australians. Suspended vibrantly coloured Vietnamese Hats symbolise protection, beauty and community gathering. Computer choreographed lighting transforms them at night for seasonal celebrations. The railway bridge artworks show abstracted bamboo forests inhabited by the “Richmond Tigers”. Under the bridge on brick abutments is a ‘gallery’ for pedestrians with metal etched images sourced from an ancient Vietnamese brass drum. The design had to mediate the complex context and construction process involving off-site modular fabricated elements being erected at night to minimise disruption to this major transport node.
Victoria Street between Hoddle Street and the railway bridge, Richmond, VIC2013
Yarra City Council; Funding Partners - YCC, Richmond Asian Business Association, Local, State & Federal Government