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From horses to courses

From horses to courses
Sean Car

In an historic event for an historic local icon, the reimagined and repurposed former home of Victoria Police’s Mounted Branch “The Stables” was last month officially unveiled by the University of Melbourne.

Southbank Local News was granted a special sneak peek of the transformed heritage building on May 11 and we are proud to report that the result of its restoration is truly inspiring.

The day saw Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) students and educators given a fitting handover from horses Bob and Unity, who stopped by for a brief visit to their former home.

Home to Victoria Police’s horses and riding school since 1912, the Grant St stables only changed hands to the University of Melbourne with the help of the state government in 2016 when the horses were relocated to Attwood.

While many local residents, students and teachers miss the familiar sights and sounds of the horses trotting through the streets of Southbank Village, the site’s $42.5 million transformation is a landmark moment for Southbank.

The project forms an integral part of the university’s plans to create what Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music Prof. Barry Conyngham described as a “village of the arts” within the Arts Precinct.

From horse stalls to artist studios, the stables have been repurposed from end-to-end into a variety of innovative teaching and learning spaces for artists. What was formerly the riding hall is now an area containing a sprung dance floor and retractable seating; the hexagonal atrium now a central mixed-use meeting place.

Architect Kirsten Thompson, whose practice was charged with the delicate task of leading this unique project, told Southbank Local News the balance between new and old had made for a truly fascinating undertaking.

“It was such a beautiful space to start with so my approach was to retain its awe-inspiring scale,” she said. “The feel of it was so beautiful. I wanted to keep the history but then also transform it to work for arts students.”

“That conversation between new and old was fascinating. It’s been really good today hearing from some of the police officers who say they are still able to see signs when they were here.”

Leading Snr Constable Kevin Knowles, who first began working at the stables in 1975, said he was amazed by the transformation.

“I had my doubts but walking in and having a bit of a look around and I just think it’s incredible,” he said. “To see that it still has that heritage value of the stables is great and they’ve done an amazing job to transform it for its future purpose.”

“That was one of the beauties of this site. It was amazing that in 1912 they put this building here because even when we left it was just as valuable to us as a training venue.”

And to no great surprise, the faculty of fine arts and music’s new home of visual and performing arts has been very well received by those using it. Postgraduate student and Southbank resident Pascale Dawson said she thought it was important that the architecture paid homage to its former occupants.

“We’d always see the horses walking around. It was odd but they were always keeping an eye on us!” she said. “I think they’ve done a great job and I love how they’ve stayed true to the original architecture.”

“I can see it coming through with a lot of people’s works and the space really is a reflection of the openness and the history that comes with it. As a visual artist I like how they styled this and worked a lot with perception and the space really creates an environment that’s really productive for my practice.”

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