Belconnen In2Change

Started by Buzz Killington, February 17, 2009, 07:39:02 PM

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Buzz Killington

Media Release

in2CHANGE
A Community Arts project celebrating the closure of
Belconnen Bus Interchange – April 2009


in2CHANGE is a community arts project that will see Belconnen Bus Interchange become an arts installation during the last days of its life.  Artists working individually, in groups and with members of the community will adorn the space during the April school holidays from April 18-26.  in2CHANGE will culminate in a night of performance in the interchange on April 26.   The performance will use the interchange's many unique spaces in creative ways. The audience will be guided through the interchange as a living breathing work of art. The show will culminate in a spectacular finale against the brutalist concrete backdrop of the bus parking area. Belconnen Gallery will run a complimentary exhibition of arts and memorabilia during April, depicting and responding to this unique urban space. In2CHANGE is an initiative of the Belconnen Community Centre's Arts and Cultural Program.   

Anyone who's grown up in Belconnen, worked in Belconnen or been a regular ACTION Bus traveller has first hand experience of the Belconnen Bus Interchange. This labyrinth-like space with its connecting tubes, ramps, staircases, and platforms; its fluorescent lights and glass boxes, its feelings of emptiness and bustling hurry, has been like a grey, concrete heart, pumping people out into the town centre of Belconnen since 1979.

Belconnen Bus Interchange will close at the end of April 2009. Further information about this redevelopment can be found at http://www.action.act.gov.au/demolition_of_belconnen_bus_interchange.html

Call to Action!
Do you have an interchange story to tell?
Do you have old or new photos, drawings, video, or sound recordings of the Belconnen Interchange?
Are you a performer who likes to create installation style performance?
Do you have a visual or sound art idea for transforming part of the space?
Would you or your community group like to be a part of this project? If so, please contact, Simone Penkethman contact details below.

Join the in2CHANGE glue group
Are you are aged between 15 and 25? The in2CHANGE project seeks a dedicated group of young people to play a pivotal role in generating ideas and developing performance to help make the night of performance cohesive entertaining and fun. This group will meet weekly at Belconnen Community Centre and will work intensively during the April School holidays. The group will be facilitated by Simone Penkethman with guest artists conducting workshops in specialist performance styles.

Please email or phone Belconnen Arts and Cultural Development Officer, Simone Penkethman to register your interest in being part of in2CHANGE.02 62640235 Simone.penkethman@bcsact.com.au

Snorzac

#1
I don't see what all the fuss is about, Belconnen Bus interchange apart from Wodn bus interchange and Queenbyan in general would have to be the biggest hole in the world and I will be glad to see it go.

Buzz Killington

Belco Interchange is a pretty unique part of Canberra's Transport History. It'll be a shame to see it go.

And I think we can all agree that Page is a hole.

Snorzac

Not as big as Charnwood with their 'Charny Carny'

Busnerd


Irisbus Rider

Ha ha.

Belconnen Interchange has been iconic, in it's time, it was a engineering masterpiece of furturism, a marvel for the simple folk from the 1970s.

It's a shame it will be farewelled by weiner kids splashing tins of paint all over it.

belcodriver

Quote from: Irisbus Rider on February 20, 2009, 10:19:48 AM
Ha ha.

Belconnen Interchange has been iconic, in it's time, it was a engineering masterpiece of furturism, a marvel for the simple folk from the 1970s.

It's a shame it will be farewelled by weiner kids splashing tins of paint all over it.

Belco interchange is more brutalist than futurist IMHO. Brutalism (from the French 'beton brut' - bare concrete) is the style of architecture that blights so much of Canberra. Other examples include the Benjamin offices, Cameron offices, Belco CIT, the ex-Woden CIT, the High Court, the National Gallery etc.

Irisbus Rider

Aaah, so it's known as "Brutalism" lol, the buildings sure are brutal, ha ha. Thanks for that info, but yeah, for Canberra, I suppose it's not necessarily iconic, with the oher buildings you mentioned still standing.

smitho

This old press release announcing the proposed new Westfield Bus Station at Belconnen is interesting in that the ACT Chief Planner (Mr Savery) at that time envisaged that the Belconnen Interchange would not be closed until the new Bus Station was commissioned. "The existing facility won't be decommissioned until the new one's been built," he said.


Go-ahead for Belconnen shopping centre expansion

A $100 million plan to expand the Belconnen shopping centre has been approved by the ACT Planning and Land Authority (ACTPLA).

Up to 30,000 square metres will be added to Westfield Belconnen along with additional carparks and a new bus terminal.

Construction will begin next year and take about 18 months to complete.

ACTPLA chief planner Neil Savery says the changes will bring the town centre together.

"We've been very keen to work with Westfield Shopping Centre to activate the edges of the shopping mall so that you don't get a blank facade to the major streets, particularly Benjamin Way.

"One one of the things we've been very keen to do is to activate the relationship between the shopping centre, Margaret Timpson reserve and the commercial offices that are opposite.

"We believe it will have a very beneficiary outcome in terms of some of the public spaces that haven't been well utilised in the past."

The upgraded centre will include a new bus terminal, which was part of a land swap deal between Westfield Belconnen and the ACT Government.

Mr Savery says there should be minimal disruptions for commuters.

"The existing facility won't be decommissioned until the new one's been built," he said.

"So you'll have a relatively smooth transition to the new facility.

"But because there is going to road works and other things, invariably there's going to be some inconvenience during that period."