Concept project | In consultation with Major Projects Chancellery, Arts Centre Melbourne & ARUP engineers

With the departure of the ‘Spiegeltent’ from Art’s center forecourt to other locations, this project draws on the critical need for a new temporary performance space for ACM’s family and children's Learning programs.

Key considerations include the flexibility of the program, accessibility to all members of the community, and ability to meet the functional goal of it being able to transport to multiple sites. With numerous off-stage functions to be included, the theatre is to support dynamic programming and be an environment that allows for community ownership of its multiple users.

My solution is a fully demountable temporary pop-up performance space that subverts the traditional notion of the enclosed black box theatre. Instead, it sees an opportunity in integrating the public realm into the theatre experience and promote community ownership. In some ways resembling an oversized ‘prop’, my proposal offers a series of stages that can be appropriated, manipulated, and modified by the passerby that encounters it. Far from a serious affair, “The Lost Thing” seeks to bring a sense of childish whimsy and wonder.