Circus Oz

A street running through it

By roofing over the in-between spaces that link the old and new, a central street/circulation/passage/green room is created that loosely stitches together the functional spaces.

Image © Trevor Mein

A new home in Collingwood

This project kicked-off the transformation of this corner of Collingwood to the vibrant arts precinct the community engages with today, while also providing a home for Circus Oz that reflects their gleeful, rib-tickling, can-do attitude as creators, performers, observors and commentators on all thing Oz.For a number of years Circus Oz occupied the former post office and adjoining Navy drill hall in Port Melbourne. Although the nature of the creative artist is to be intuitively and creatively adaptable, the heritage and spatial limitations of these two buildings gradually impacted on the Circus' ability to expand their core activities and effectively rehearse key components of their act, including trapeze work. It was time to find a new home. Arts Victoria led a search to identify a new location to create a circus facility. The former Collingwood Technical College was vacant and ready to be adapted into a new arts complex.

Our Brief

Circus Oz needed a space that would accommodate a training facility, a workshop, a costumery, a music studio, an archive, teaching spaces, administration spaces - a home away from home for a troupe that spend much of their time on the road. They needed large spaces, tall spaces, acoustically isolated spaces, flexible spaces, restful hang out spaces - spaces that overlooked and interlinked so every part of the organisation would organically and naturally interact in the creative process. Some spaces were for them only, some they would share with the public, some spaces would evolve as shows developed and the big top experience was being replicated. Above all the spaces needed to be joyful, flexible, light filled.

Details

Client

Creative Victoria for Circus Oz

Date

2011-2014

Status

Completed

Location

Melbourne/Naarm

Traditional Owners

Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people

Image © Trevor Mein

Our Response

Based on a concept of 'long life loose fit', and building on the inherent adaptable and creative nature of circus, the design selectively removed portions of the original buildings from the centre of the site and constructed only what could not be accommodated by the existing.

By roofing over the in-between spaces that link the old and new, a central street/circulation/passage/green room is created that loosely stitches together the functional spaces. In this way, the design allows the circus functions to organically colonise the existing spaces and enables further alteration and adaptation of the site as new needs arise. It also enables occupants and visitors to catch glimpses of the multitude of creative activities taking place in the rooms around them.

The intervention was akin to precision surgery—carefully extracting the site’s compromised elements and introducing considered, functional alternatives.

Yet, it soon became evident that the most meaningful outcomes emerged not from asserting control, but from knowing when to let go. By intentionally leaving certain components unresolved, space was created for the Circus to embed their own voice, rhythms, and eccentricities.

The outcome is less a singular authored statement than a shared narrative—an evolving architecture shaped as much by thoughtful omission as by deliberate design.

KAI CHEN, DIRECTOR AND FOUNDING PRINCIPAL

Image © Trevor Mein

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Image © Trevor Mein

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It is a design that is entirely in tune with the creative larrikinism of Circus Oz. As an organisation they operate in an organic flexible way, attuned to a performer’s life that is largely spent on the road, either in the high top or on stage, and where inventiveness is a necessity. The design responds to this by creating a flexible series of functional spaces within the bounds of existing structures for workshops, offices, music rooms, costume production and set storage, while rigorously and carefully crafting high-volume rehearsal spaces within the new build, where the athletic precision and creative tension of the circus will be rehearsed, honed and perfected.

While at a pragmatic level the project involves inserting the Circus Oz operational headquarters into the site, the project is far more than that. The broader ambition for this first stage of works to lead the renaissance of this inner city block as an active arts and educational precinct has gone on to be achieved.