The Hedberg

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	1. The Hedberg cultural and creative industries precinct The Hedberg cultural and creative industries precinct incorporates creative studies at the University of Tasmania and Australia's oldest working theatre, the Theatre Royal. 10930 px 5372 px 4 MB A3 print
	2. The opalescent cladding of The Hedberg The Tasmanian sky accentuates the rhythm of the folded 'curtains' that cloak the facade of The Hedberg. 4728 px 6304 px 6 MB A3 print
	3. Creative laboratory spaces at The Hedberg The creative laboratory spaces with industrial materials are multi-use spaces where research and creative play take place. 3000 px 4500 px 4 MB A4 print
	4. Recording suites at The Hedberg The recording suites provide world-class recording capabilities 4500 px 3000 px 3 MB A4 print
	5. Cascading foyer spaces at The Hedberg The Hedberg featuring the Claudio Alcorso Foyer. The cascading foyers allow for vertical visual connectivity. Natasha Mulhall 3000 px 4500 px 8 MB A4 print
	6. Dance of the Banskia Wicks carpet and cascading foyer spaces The cascading foyers create gathering spaces as the Dance of the Banskia Wicks carpet design tells the story of the indigenous custom of carrying and sharing fire. Natasha Mulhall 3000 px 4500 px 9 MB A4 print
	7. The exterior shimmer and sparkle of The Hedberg The external skin of the building evokes a shimmering and sparkling theatrical curtain being pulled open to reveal the warmth of activities inside Natasha Mulhall 4188 px 6282 px 6 MB A3 print
	8. The Hedberg from Collins St Consolidating an important urban nexus of Hobart, The Hedberg is pivotal in galvanising the creative heart of Tasmania. Natasha Mulhall 6046 px 4535 px 8 MB A3 print
	9. The heritage-listed Hedberg Garage The Hedberg incorporates the heritage listed Theatre Royal and Hedberg Garage. Natasha Mulhall 4500 px 3000 px 6 MB A4 print
	10. The Hedberg Salon The different scaled performance venues celebrate Tasmanian manufactured materials and the articulation of the design influenced by minimalist notation and fluidity of sound. The design language stems from its function. Natasha Mulhall 6625 px 4417 px 10 MB A3 print
	11. The Studio Theatre The Studio Theatre takes strong influence from the native landscape and storytelling which began around the fire. Natasha Mulhall 4500 px 3000 px 3 MB A4 print
	12. The Claudio Alcorso Foyer The Claudio Alcorso Foyer incorporates the heritage-listed Hedberg Garage. Blackwood veneer used for the ceilings to the public foyers. Veneer maximises timber use efficiencies. Natasha Mulhall 5551 px 8327 px 14 MB A3 print
	13. Rooftop terrace A rooftop terrace as dusk. Opportunities to plug in and activate every space, inside and out was integral to the design of The Hedberg. Natasha Mulhall 4500 px 3000 px 6 MB A4 print
	14. The Hedberg at dusk The Hedberg at dusk Natasha Mulhall 4500 px 3001 px 6 MB A4 print
	15. The Hedberg entrance foyer Drawing people in from the street, the main entry foyer featuring salvaged bricks and materials found on site that tell the story of the site's evolution over time. Natasha Mulhall 5048 px 7571 px 10 MB A3 print
	16. Natasha Mulhall 5600 px 8400 px 19 MB A3 print
	17. The Claudio Alcorso foyer leading to the Ian Potter Recital Hall and Salon. The Hedberg cascading foyers allow for vertical visual connectivity. Natasha Mulhall 5588 px 7452 px 11 MB A3 print
	18. The atrium The Hedberg atrium space becomes another informal opportunity for performance. Natasha Mulhall 3000 px 3672 px 8 MB A4 print
	19. Cascading foyers The cascading foyers create gathering spaces as the Dance of the Banskia Wicks carpet design tells the story of the indigenous custom of carrying and sharing fire. Patrick Bingham-Hall 3300 px 4604 px 11 MB A4 print
	20. The Ian Potter Recital Hall Inspired by minimalist musical notations, the timber panels perform important acoustic functions while expressing the flow of musical compositions. 8192 px 5464 px 11 MB A3 print
	21. The Ian Potter Recital Hall The beautiful Tasmanian timbers were used in many different ways and finishes, from veneers to panels to acoustic surfaces. 8192 px 5464 px 9 MB A3 print
	22. The Ian Potter Recital Hall The 300 seat Recital Hall integrates cutting edge technology that allows it to be tuned for music from classical to contemporary. The design is inspired by minimalist music notation and showcases Tasmania’s beautiful local woods. 5402 px 8099 px 9 MB A3 print
	23. The Ian Potter Recital Hall The 300 seat Recital Hall integrates cutting edge technology that allows it to be tuned for music from classical to contemporary. The design is inspired by minimalist music notation and showcases Tasmania’s beautiful local woods. 5379 px 7895 px 8 MB A3 print

Description

Located in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, The Hedberg vision is to present a culturally significant performing and creative arts destination that galvanises the creative heart of Hobart and fuels Tasmania’s cultural offering in a global and contemporary context.

In 2013, Hobart-based LIMINAL Architecture, with Singapore-based WOHA, were awarded the internationally competitive bid to deliver this culturally significant building. The result is a cultural place of ceremony, merging ancient traditions with modern innovations.

The development includes professional music and performance hubs, world-class performance venues, a new home for the Conservatorium of Music, creative workshop laboratories, integration of the two-storey heritage-listed Hedberg Garage, universal accessibility to all levels of the historic Theatre Royal for the first time and cutting-edge technologies facilitating local and global exchange.

The Hedberg could not have happened anywhere else or on any other site. The building is informed by its cultural and community contexts. The design encapsulates a people-focused intimacy, relevancy and scale and celebrates the role the built environment plays in deepening an understanding of place that inspires cultural and creative immersion for its users, practitioners, performers, educators, producers, musicians, students, visitors and patrons. It presents, a festival in a building.

The Hedberg tells stories of the past, overlaid with aspirations for the future. The design strategy evokes a sense of the theatrical activities inside. The external expression is influenced by the minimalist and dancing forms in contemporary music notation. The cladding suggests a shimmering theatrical curtain being pulled open to reveal the warmth within. The exterior sparkle takes its cue from the opalescence of Tasmanian abalone shells, traditionally used to carry fire, acknowledging the significance of fire in cultural exchange and the role it continues to play as the original natural ‘theatre’ for storytelling.

The urban compositional strategies balance the scale of the new building with the heritage buildings by visually separating them, using glass lobby spaces as connections between the inward-looking performance spaces.

“Even though its volumetric requirements are far greater than those of adjacent heritage buildings, the project’s design is contextual and well mannered. It appreciates and exposes elements that define the heritage significance of the site while satisfying contemporary requirements,” said Elvio Brianese, LIMINAL Architecture co-founding Director.

“As part of the heritage strategy, we used materials that are modern but harmonise with the masonry, sandstone and brick of the historical buildings. We wanted The Hedberg to feel more like a cluster of buildings on the city block, than a huge performing arts building that overwhelms the modest-scale heritage structures” says Richard Hassell, co-founding director of WOHA.

In the site’s evolution, The Hedberg adds a contemporary layer that ensures the heritage buildings that abut and exist on the site, experience longevity through adaptive reuse. The heritage strategy interweaves interpretive layers into the built fabric as salvaged materials and archaeological fragments found onsite are reused or presented in panels to reflect stories within stories. This conservation, reuse, interpretation and revelation achieves sustainability.

“The ‘fabric’ of the building externally and internally provides interpretative layers of the past re-presented through a contemporary lens heightening the story-telling potential of the building,” said Peta Heffernan, LIMINAL Architecture co-founding Director.

In the professional performing arts context, its progressiveness is also represented by acoustic versatility. The design incorporates a full range of acoustic variables from natural and traditional methods such as absorptive moveable banners, curtains, diffusive panels and reflectors to electronic acoustic enhancement options, that can change and be activated without changing the visual appearance of the space. This enables the performance to be free of distraction, preserving the mystic of theatre, without the visual ‘cue’ that can dilute the immersive potential as it shifts from a singular musician to a rock band.

The electronic acoustic enhancement system can also make the 350 seat Ian Potter Recital Hall ‘sound’ like an auditorium that can seat 700 plus people. This versatility in an intimate venue allows for a full spectrum of music genres that typically would not be able to be accommodated. Maximum impact and opportunity are created with minimal means as for the cost of a small auditorium, the acoustic experience can be equivalent to the grandest auditorium in the world.

The convivially collaborative relationship between LIMINAL Architecture and WOHA was a first and allowed design concepts to push past boundaries of what would have previously or individually possible. The result is a precinct that is deeply aware of its cultural and community context together with an understanding of its unique and well-deserved place on the global stage.

'Can I offer our deep thanks to LIMINAL Studio, our Hobart-based architects, who – in the spirit of collaboration – invited Singapore-based WOHA to work with them on this project, and which resulted in this remarkable finely textured and storied building. They themselves are poets of space who in many ways have created an architectural instrument to be played by the performers here and like a great instrument the performance will be all the finer because of the quality of the stage upon which it is performed' – Vice Chancellor, University of Tasmania, Professor Rufus Black.

LIMINAL Architecture is internationally awarded and operates as one of the interdisciplinary identities under the LIMINAL Studio banner which also includes LIMINAL Spaces, Objects, and Ideation, known for its collaborative and community-engaging processes. Appointing a local architecture and design studio unlocks local knowledge and allows collaborations with local manufacturers, designers and craftspeople. The result is a uniquely Tasmanian aesthetic that generates ongoing value for Tasmanian businesses as materials and production processes are reimagined and presented in new ways.

WOHA focuses on researching and innovating integrated architectural and urban solutions to tackle the problems of the 21st century such as climate change, population growth and rapidly increasing urbanisation. The practice has accrued a varied portfolio of work and is known for its distinct approach to biophilic design and integrated landscaping. WOHA applies their systems thinking approach to architecture and urbanism in their building design as well as their regenerative masterplans. Their rating system to measure the performance of buildings, as laid out in their book “Garden City Mega City”, has garnered interest internationally and is being adopted into construction policies in several cities.

The Hedberg is funded through a unique partnership between the University of Tasmania, the Australian and Tasmanian Governments and the Theatre Royal, Australia’s oldest and continuously operating theatre.

To date The Hedberg has received the following recognition:

2022

Australian Institute of Architects National Architecture Awards
Interior Architecture - Award
Public Architecture - Shortlist
Heritage - Shortlist

Architecture Masterprize
Cultural Architecture - Winner

World Architecture Festival (to be announced December 2022)
Completed Buildings - Culture - Finalist

Australian Timber Design Awards (to be announced December 2022)
Recycled Timber - Finalist
Public Building - Finalist

Singapore Institute of Architects Architectural Awards
Institutional Projects - Merit Award

The Tasmanian Architecture Awards
Tasmanian Architecture Medal
Alan C Walker Award for Public Architecture
Dirk Bolt Award for Urban Design
Roy Sharrington Smith Award for Heritage
Alexander North Award for Interior Architecture

INDE Awards
The Building - Shortlist
The Learning Space - Winner

2021

Master Builder Awards
Commercial Builder of the Year Hansen Yuncken

AGWA Design Awards
Bespoke Window/Glass Project (over $10,000) - Highly Commended

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