Victorian College of the Arts Building

This building is the Victorian College of the Arts Centre for Ideas, located in Dodds Street, Southbank. The Architects for this building were Paul Minifie and Fiona Nixon. The building is 3 stories tall, and the budget for the project was only $5 million.

Digital modelling software was used in the design of this building, using virtual to actual process.

The form of the facade is an interesting element, with a strong combination of reflective materials and use of colour.

The form of the facade consists of shallow cone shapes and orthogonal fenestration. The Veronal silver system and bronze stainless steel cladding give an ambiguous scaleless-ness look to the building.

Tilt - Up Concrete Panels

Panels are propped and stabilised by temporary supports at an angle of 60 degrees, connected to the propping ferrule in the panel and bolted to the concrete slab.

The curing process of tilt – up concrete panels takes 7 days to maximise quality and reach the required strength. After the curing process, the panels can be lifted into their final position using a crane.

Typical set up of a concrete panel prior to pouring showing the bar chairs, steel reinforcement, steel plates cast into the panel, reinforcement bars around the edges of the panels, the lifting ferrules and the propping ferrules.

This image shows the setup for the pouring of tilt-up concrete panels. The concrete slab acts as the casting bed for the panels. The image also shows timber formwork used to shape the edges of the panels and props, which are used to support the formwork.

To stop the panels sticking together, a chemical bond breaker is applied between each concrete panel.