ACMI
ACMI Renewal
ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) is the largest museum in the world devoted to screen culture and moving images. BKK led this game-changing renewal project – a very complex adaptive re-use.
The project involved gutting and replacing the ground and first floors of ACMI’s premises: the Alfred Deakin Building at Melbourne’s heritage- listed Federation Square.
The project’s major moves are:
- improved and increased floor space in the free exhibition galleries
- a new temporary gallery in the main gallery space
- new AV and IT infrastructure throughout
- new exhibition displays and post-visit user experience
- the grand Living Stair
- the relocated shop
- the Swinburne Studio event space
- labs for ACMI’s school-age teaching programs
- new Urban Lounge, a multi-purpose third place
- media preservation lab for staff
- the Audience Lab, a new test-bed area.
The Flinders Street Foyer and the Urban Lounge, with its bleacher-style seating, are a third place for ACMI staff and visitors.
Our Living Stair links ACMI’s levels physically and visually.
Interior architecture
ACMI has two main entrances: one on Flinders Street, a major Melbourne thoroughfare, and one in the Federation Square concourse two levels higher.
One of the project’s main aims was making its confusing multi-level layout more legible and cohesive. The building had never really been customised for ACMI’s uses, and it lacked a clear external identity or entry point. Visitors often went to one component of the museum without finding the others.
We addressed these issues with our biggest architectural move: the large timber stair linking the levels visually and physically. The stair also recalls a classic Melburnian laneway – part of the original Federation Square design that hadn’t been realised.
As well, we relocated ACMI’s shop to a prominent position opening onto Flinders Street and onto the generous Flinders Street foyer. After hours, the shop doubles as a function space.
Both shop and foyer can be used, separately or together, for functions and there is a motorised blind that retracts into the ceiling to divide them.
The ACMI shop doubles as a function space after hours, with bespoke wheel-away joinery and a motorised blind to divide it from the foyer.
A multi-disciplinary collaboration
The design process needed genuine multi-disciplinary collaboration to ensure all technical, educational, workplace and architectural requirements were met.
BKK worked closely with exhibition designers from Second Story (Razorfish), Schuler Shook lighting designers and many engineering disciplines, as well as ACMI’s curatorial team. Our collaborative workshops explored ideas using sketches, drawings and sticky notes from all participants. Together, we developed the strategic design framework from the project’s outset.
We also worked closely with original Federation Square architect Donald Bates (LAB + Bates Smart) to understand the fundamental design intentions in detail.
Education spaces and technology
For ACMI’s school-age programs, we created flexible tech-enabled spaces with AV booths and projection screens. The Learning Lab ceiling, for example, is demountable. There’s a secondary ceiling grid above the main ceiling that delivers power through moveable umbilical cords, so the room can be reconfigured for different activities.
Digital integration: AV and IT
ACMI, by nature, needs to remain at the forefront of digital technology and it required a significant update to its AV and technical fitout.
Our brief required us to maximise gallery floor space wherever possible, so we installed new infrastructure that allows technicians to work on the gallery floor or remotely rather than in large server rooms, which take up valuable real estate.
We maximised space outside the galleries too: we designed bespoke ceiling coffers for the ground-floor entrance area, which are demountable to allow access to services in the ceiling. This minimised additional access panels. New AV boxes are discreetly hidden throughout all the main public spaces for maximum in-built flexibility.
Other new spaces
The Swinburne Studio is a larger event space than ACMI hadpreviously. It has a servery, which boosts commercial potential, and overlooks the atrium, inviting people to see the activities inside.
The Media Preservation Lab is mainly for staff but occasionally opens to the public for special events. Visitors can see inside from the adjacent Audience Lab.
Media Preservation Lab
Audience Lab
Yanmeeyarr by Gunditjmara artist Vicki Couzens is at the entrance to the main gallery.
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Awards
2021 AIA Victorian Architecture Award, Shortlisted, Melbourne Prize
2021 DrivenxDesign Melbourne Design Awards, Gold, Interior
2021 Good Design Awards Australia, Winner, Urban Design and Public Space
2021 Australian Interior Design Awards, Shortlisted, Public – Gallery & Exhibition Spaces
2021 Idea Awards, Shortlisted, Public Space