In July 2012, Steven Vidovic and Kristina Taranto won the People’s Market and Flea design competition in Melbourne. The brief for this national competition came with fairly specific requirements about the use of sustainable materials and adaptable built elements in turning the 1100-square-metre site (a disused car lot) at Stanley Street, Collingwood into a multifunctional community market/art space with a lifespan of about six months.
Despite the inevitable pressures of budget, time and site logistics, many of the aspirations of Vidovic and Taranto’s original design have come to fruition: shipping containers have been recycled as cafes and art spaces, and the theme of Recycled Garden is artfully carried through, with recycled materials and found objects intertwined with living greenery. Some interesting expressions are the use of milk crates and PVC piping balustrades atop the shipping containers, and the way existing graffiti on the site has been augmented with murals commissioned by local artists.
Underpinning their conceptual design is the notion of community and safety. “The space is bringing together families, young and old, and certain sub cultures,” says Taranto. “Diversity is healthy and good for Stanley Street which, in the past, has felt unsafe, especially at night. In adapting the car park, we were really focused on giving the space a feeling of heightened safety, while traversing the street.” A key gesture here is the People’s Garden – a raised beer garden amid a forest of tree sculptures fashioned from timber offcuts.
So, are the designers happy with the result? “We would have liked to have seen the existing front brick walls of the site taken down as we had originally envisioned, as we see more potential for a regulated drinking/eating space just outside the entry,” says Vidovic. “And we would really have liked to use real grass (instead of artificial) on the front art container, given that we researched and documented how we could do this.
“Winning the pop-up market commission was a starting point for us, and we have now set up our collaboration Emerge Studio as a result. Our main interest will be in finding unused spaces in Melbourne and giving them a new use and meaning. We’d also like to work with People’s Market to possibly reuse our design for a market in Brisbane and Sydney.”
People’s Market in Stanley Street, Collingwood, opens December 2012 through April 2013.
