Three teams will compete for the opportunity to design the Gold Coast’s landmark cultural precinct, it was announced today (14 June) by Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate.

From 75 entries, an expert jury shortlisted the teams down to ARM Architecture, Crab_Vogt_DBI and Nikken Sekkei.

Each shortlisted team has been awarded $250,000 to participate in the intensive 12-week Stage Two design period.

Teams will earn every cent, Mayor Tate says, as they will be delivering comprehensive designs which will require engineering, planning, landscaping, acoustics, digital, cultural, theatre design and a range of other investigations.

“This competition has trained some of the world’s best design minds on our city and what will be our future cultural heart,” he says.

There were many submissions worthy of selection and the jury had a real challenge choosing just three, Mayor Tate says, who was part of the eight-member jury.

“There was great diversity in the designs. Concepts ranged from single-roof structures to clusters of buildings and those with buildings dispersed across the site.”

The shortlisted teams demonstrated they understood the city’s vision for a distinctly Gold Coast landmark precinct, which could evolve over time to become the natural heart for arts and culture.

“As well as a new arts museum and a living arts centre, the teams were challenged to make a landscaped artscape integral to their designs. These will become our natural civic gardens, connecting to the green bridge, which is planned to connect to Chevron Island,” Mayor Tate says.

In order to guarantee a fair competition, intellectual property of each team has been protected until the winner is announced later this year.

ARM Architecture: The Melbourne-based national and international architectural firm is responsible for Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance Visitor Centre, Melbourne Theatre Company, Canberra’s National Museum of Australia and Perth Arena.

For this project it has partnered with landscape architects TOPOTEK1 (Berlin), theatre planners Shuler Shook (US and Melbourne), acoustic engineers Marshall Day (Melbourne), sustainability and engineering consultants Arup (global), museum and exhibition designers Cunningham Martyn Design (Melbourne) and indigenous and cultural consultants Duncan Gibbs and Michael Aird (Gold Coast).

ARM Architecture's Melbourne Theatre Company

CRAB_VOGT_DBI: In a local and international architectural alliance, this team consists of Gold Coast-based DBI design and global architectural firm CRAB Studio (London), with landscape architecture by Zurich/London-based VOGT. CRAB is known locally for its design of the Soheil Abedian School of Architecture at Bond University.

The team will partner will structural engineers Bollinger and Grohmann (Frankfurt), sustainability consultants Max Fordham (London), acoustic consultants Marshall Day (Melbourne), theatre consultants Theatreplan (London), urban informatics Arup (Sydney), light installation artist Bruce Munro (UK), lighting designer Andre Tammes; and a support team of Gold Coast-based companies: GMP quantity surveyors, Habitat ecological engineers, AECOM transport, building and acoustic consultants, UPS urban planning, CERTIS accessibility consultant, Robert Bird structural engineer and TDLD lighting consultants.

Kunsthaus Graz, public art gallary in Graz, Austria by CRAB.

Nikken Sekkei: Japan’s largest architectural firm Nikken.JP (Tokyo) has partnered with landscape architects Earthscape (Tokyo) and art museum managers Mori Art Museum (Japan) to form the team. Cultural projects already include Japan’s Hoki Museum, Pola Museum and Hyogo Performing Arts Centre.

They will be joined by civil engineers Nikken Sekkei Civil, sustainability consultants Nikken Sekkei Research Institute and Brisbane architects Lambert and Smith, with quantity surveyors Mitchell Brandtman (Australia).

Hoki Museum in Japan by Nikken Sekkei.