Six finalist designs were revealed for the future of Flinders Street station recently, and personally I think they all look awesome. There seems to be some negative response toward changing the dated architecture, but one of the main reasons I love Melbourne is it’s mix of old and new (the new is the best bit) and with the northern side to be kept as is for most of them, I would much appreciate a revamped platform system. A lot of the designs seem to want to utilise more vertical space too, include some really cool rooftop park proposals, and one of them look like they belong in fiction based centuries from now.

The future is coming to Melbourne!

I don’t expect that one to win – it’s rather extravagant and doesn’t best capture the multi-cultural spirit of Melbourne – but it’s certainly the most future looking.

If I were to pick one based on relevance to Melbourne’s culture – past and present – it would have to be Ashton Raggatt McDougall’s proposal that bases it’s aesthetic on ripples giving it a very organic feel, not to mention the abundance of greenery on the rooftops.

Very chic.

All of the designs want to extend and make use of the western end of the station though which is very welcome seeing as it currently acts as storage area for tens of garbage bins (which is hardly ‘iconic’).

I’d definitely recommend checking them all out and seeing what’s up to win, and you can even vote yourself!