Fish Lane Study

Archipelago was commissioned by Urban Renewal Brisbane - City Centre Masterplan Team to undertake a public realm concept design for Fish Lane in South Brisbane. This project represents an extension of the Small Scale Spaces initiative identified in the City Centre Master Plan and the draft South Brisbane Riverside Renewal Strategy.

Fish lane runs parallel to Melbourne Street from Grey Street/Cultural Centre to Manning Street/South Brisbane. It is a small laneway fronted by by a wide variety of buildings and uses, and many spaces of varying size. It is bisected along its length by more highly trafficked roads, effectively creating a laneway of four parts, each with its own qualities.

Archipelago developed a masterplan approach based on a well structured site analysis and stakeholder workshop whose summary conclusions formed the working brief for the design response. Individual strategies that dealt with the individual observed conditions combined under a unifying concept of the ‘Laneways of Lost Things’, referencing the work Australia’s award winning children’ book author and illustrator, Shaun Tan.

A more detailed concept design was developed for the area between Grey and Hope Streets. The distinguishing feature of this precinct is a broad piece of overhead rail infrastructure that connects South Brisbane station with Roma Street. It has a chance to be two things for the city. It can be typically activated and occupied as a narrow street where pedestrians have supplanted cars with a chic café or a cute button shop or the best-kept secret patisserie. But it can also unfold itself, reprogramme its space and become a large urban event  - a market, a rock concert, a festival, a outdoor gallery.

Completed: 2010
Client: Brisbane City Council