Gold Coast City Council recently held an 'Ideas Competition' to focus exploration of the future of the Cultural and Civic heart of the fast growing and ever changing city of the Gold Coast. The jury reviewed fifty-six conforming schemes.

The jury’s assessment was lead by the vision, objectives and scope expressed in the competition document.

The jury considered how the resulting ideas and propositions could drive wider discussion and provoke, inform and inspire public debate.

Gall & Medek and QCA team’s submission was considered to best illustrate the issues to be faced given the predicted changes to potential flood levels in the near future. Its vision was largely conceptual, so was considered separate from the winner by some distance.

Click on the link below for more detail.
Supporting Document

Jury Report -
This is a highly qualitative response to the Ideas Competition brief offering positive aspirations for the social, cultural, economic and environmental evolution of the subtropical coastal city over coming decades and beyond, using the Evandale site as a catalyst.

Examination of the submission reveals a nuanced outcome that is embedded in responsive communities and local distinctiveness. The importance of an identity based on the lifestyle advantages provided by the location’s natural characteristics is taken into account at a profound level. The result is an approach that provides strong ideas for ‘casting the city of the Gold Coast into a positions of global leadership’ in achieving long term care of community and place. Rather than spectacle and short-lived drama, this submission recognizes the symbolic values of the site and offers a plausible re-imagining of the Gold Coast city of the future that includes and celebrates the current city.

A conceptual mosaic accommodates future challenges including certain inundation, cultural diversification and reorganized urban patterns that include food production and knowledge industries. The submission demonstrates the authors’ knowledge of the cultural and creative life of the Gold Coast community and proposes ideas for two new kinds of cultural institution: a multiversity and an inter-cultural resort.

This submission adds valuable concepts to the dialogue regarding visions for Evandale and the Gold Coast City’s future. It presents the possibilities of innovative thinking, and suggests actions for directing the incremental changes necessary for transforming the mental map of the city for residents and visitors.