Southern Cross Station as viewed from above

Tue 24 May 2011 8:50am by
Filed under: Melbourne 

Before last week I’d never seen this view of Southern Cross Station. It looks quite unworldly. CL was giving me a quick tour of Media House — as he commented, it looks like something from Dune.

Southern Cross Station from above

What you can’t see from the photos (not even zoomed-in) is that some sections closest to the edge, and between the lumpy bits, are actually inflatable plastic. Presumably it’s some essential part of the design.

Southern Cross Station from above

Here’s a more conventional angle. Anubis and Chrome are still in residence.

Southern Cross Station main entrance

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Comments

9 comments on Southern Cross Station as viewed from above

  1. Paul on Tue, 24th May 2011 4:02 pm

    2. I think that the wave roof on the Shanghai Railway station is simpler and better than the Southern Cross roof:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Shanghai_Railway_Station_A_train_comes_out.jpg/220px-Shanghai_Railway_Station_A_train_comes_out.jpg

  2. Katie on Tue, 24th May 2011 6:32 pm

    3. What a fascinating perspective on the building! Thanks for sharing the shots. :)

  3. Paul (different one) on Tue, 24th May 2011 6:33 pm

    4. Yes, but why is the bit over platforms 13-16 a boring old flat roof. It looks like an add-on but was built at the same time as the rest

  4. Jenn Brigole on Wed, 25th May 2011 5:06 am

    5. Amazing how your photos do look similar with that in Dune. You actually took the time to take these. :) Thank you for sharing.

  5. Andrew on Wed, 25th May 2011 10:28 am

    6. The flat roof over platforms 13 to 16 was intended to be the bottom of a multistory office block. The developer got cold feet over the cost overruns of the construction, and the slow office market at the time, and substituted a quick and cheap podium. One day they will probably construct an office block.

  6. Daniel on Wed, 25th May 2011 1:17 pm

    7. In fact apparently Media House almost ended up being built over 13-16. I assume at some stage something else will pop up there.

  7. Julian Wearne on Fri, 27th May 2011 3:23 pm

    8. Such a lovely eye pleasing rooftop. It also has those really nice structural support beams that just look perfect for hiding some piping.

    Such a pity then that the largest rooftop in the CBD (by a long shot) has absolutely no water catchment facilities at all. Especially considering it was built in the middle of a drought.

  8. Daniel on Fri, 27th May 2011 3:50 pm

    9. @Julian, that wasn’t the case initially, but they retrofitted water catchment.

    http://www.transport.vic.gov.au/doi/internet/transport.nsf/AllDocs/51A6FE0B0EA5C80BCA2571F800066647?OpenDocument

    “Southern Cross Station has been harvesting water for reuse since early 2009. Collected water is now being reused within the station for a range of cleaning and operational purposes.”

  9. Julian Wearne on Thu, 2nd Jun 2011 1:39 pm

    10. @Daniel – I stand corrected. I didn’t hear anything about this, just about the uproar about it not harvesting it in the first place.

    I wonder how much they manage to catch and whether it covers the entire roof.