Federation Square

Federation Square (colloquially Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district.

It covers an area of 3.2 ha (7.9 acres) at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets built above busy railway lines and across the road from Flinders Street station. It incorporates major cultural institutions such as the Ian Potter Centre, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and the Koorie Heritage Trust as well as cafes and bars in a series of buildings centred around a large paved square, and a glass walled atrium.

Federation Square occupies roughly a whole urban block bounded by Swanston, Flinders, and Russell Streets and the Yarra River. The open public square is directly opposite Flinders Street station and St Paul's Cathedral. The layout of the precinct is designed to connect the historical central district of the city with the Yarra River and a new park Birrarung Marr.

In addition to a number of shops, bars, cafés and restaurants, Federation Square's cultural facilities include:

In 2009, Virtual Tourist awarded Federation Square with the title of the 'World's Fifth-Ugliest Building'. Criticisms of it ranged from its damage to the heritage vista to its similarity to a bombed-out war-time bunker due to its "army camouflage" colours. A judge from Virtual Tourist justified Federation Square's ranking on the ugly list claiming that: "Frenzied and overly complicated, the chaotic feel of the complex is made worse by a web of unsightly wires from which overhead lights dangle." It continues to be a "pet hate" of Melburnians and has been discussed on ABC's Art NationAfter its opening on 26 October 2002, Federation Square remained controversial among Melburnians due to its unpopular architecture, but also because of its successive cost blowouts and construction delays (as its name suggests, it was to have opened in time for the centenary of Australian Federation on 1 January 2001). The construction manager was Multiplex.The designers of Federation Square did not get any work for six months after the completion of the A$450 million public space, but did receive hate-mail from people who disliked the design.The Australian Financial Review later reported that some Melburnians have learned to love the building, citing the record number of people using and visiting it. It was included on The Atlantic Cities' 2011 list of "10 Great Central Plazas and Squares".

Brown-May, A. and Day, N. (2003). Federation Square, South Yarra, Vic: Hardie Grant Books (ISBN 1-74066-002-1). "Melbourne gets square". Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), 19 October 2002.