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Marion Culture Center

The Marion Cultural Centre opened on 23 November 2001. The building designed by Melbourne architects Ashton Raggat McDougall (ARM) in collaboration with the Adelaide studios of Phillips/Pilkington (PP)rises in Marion. The Cultural Center was funded by the Marion city council to create a cultural meeting place for the community of Marion. The building enhabits the following architectual program; these being a library, gallery, multipurpose space, cafe, shop, meeting rooms (Schematic Drawings courties of ARM Architects. )The architecture is a vision for encouraging and growing Marion’s local culture and there expression through the arts, emphasising the importance of the creative agenda for Marion’s future sustainability.

Key Influences and design approach
The Marion Cultural center acts as a gateway to the large Westfield Shopping Centre(Westfield Group) and the roads it services. The building is significantly smaller than the shopping centre, using its proximity to the road to enhance the effect of the word MARION to the passing by viewer. The word is readable in part from the drive-by experience, but is perhaps more visible when users turn into the service road and the building comes into directly, in a sweeping manner.

Façade Treatment
The architects were inspired by the name of the suburb (Marion), forming the name with six letters to produce a highly expressionist, communicative form of architecture. The letter are not only experienced from the exterior of the building, but are dragged through the facade to create interior spaces. The M and the A form the main facade and continue inside the building to form the library space with its strongly sloping walls and daring spatial solutions. The R is elongated along one side to create a winding terrace. An iron sculpture at one corner of the site forms the I, while the circumference of the letter O, made of local limestone, forms the garden next to the building. Lastly, the N is a rusted metal structure defining the café entrance. The building's lettering is legible from far away, standing out in red and orange to give the building a strong character which immediately made it into a landmark identifying the district. This use of text has occurred frequently in the work of Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown’s “Leaning from Las Vegas”. This is the notion that Architectural language talks about symbolism over space. Thus, the space as an architectural element becomes dominated by communication. Some examples of this are:

1) The Decorated Shed - consisting of a building with simple program and embeished surfaces. The sign at the street is important, the building becomes a modest necessity.

2) The Duck – consisting of a building with symbolic form used to advertise the function.

Venturi approaches the use of words from both a position similar to signage - the post-war American commercial Vernacular Architecture; and the semiotic discussion of classicism as demonstrated in Complexity and Contradiction.

Interiority
The entry, mid-way along the Arcade, brings the user into an open circulation space that is partially filled with a café and very wide steps leading up to the library. The building contains the library, a modest gallery and auditorium. The latter is the most interior of all, with no windows and clad internally with plywood panels. These stained panels feature many small holes in groupings. A more direct symbol is used on the ceiling, with a two pixilated hands.

Sustainability
The Sustainable design of the Marion Cultural Centre incorporates a stormwater retention system that allows surface run-off to be stored, filtered on site, then pumped into the ground to replenish the aquifer under Adelaide. The Centre also features a solar hot water system, water efficient fixtures and fittings, energy efficient artificial lighting, low energy evaporative systems and economy cycle air conditioning - even the external landscaping is low maintenance and water efficient. The architects were linked with the project managers, sub-consultants and Marion Council by an Internet-based project management system to ensure tight and responsive management during the construction process. Considerable community consultation also went into the design of the building to create a sense of identity that truly reflects the City of Marion

Awards
RAIA(SA Chapter) Award of Merit, Urban Development Institute of Australia (SA) “Award of Excellence” 2002