Adelaide Festival Centre receives AIA SA enduring architecture award 2023

The building received the Jack Cheesman Award for Enduring Architecture at the 2023 Australian Institute of Architects' South Australian Awards on Friday, July 7.

Located by Elder Park, it became Australia's first capital city performing arts centre when it opened on June 2, 1973, beating the Sydney Opera House by three months. Featuring geometric concrete shells, the design - by John Morphett - was done from the inside out to accommodate complex technical requirements. The building's axis was turned 45 degrees so it faces the city, while the tall fly tower is at the lower point in Elder Park.

"This has not prevented the geometric concrete shells from becoming a loved feature of the Adelaide riverbank precinct," the judges said.

Construction started in 1970 and took almost three years to complete. In 1974 additional spaces were opened to complement the original Festival Theatre: a more intimate drama theatre, an experimental theatre space and an opportunistic amphitheatre nestled between the two octagonal shells.

Judges said refurbishments have faithfully retained core aspects of the original design; timber floors and sound enhancements improved acoustics, while more recent renovations led by Hassell & Partners have introduced updated foyers, restaurants and bars. New entrances expose views to the River Torrens and reinstated the main entries at plaza level.

"The Adelaide Festival Centre is not only instantly recognisable, it also represents an important period in South Australian history and is integral to our identity as The Festival State," judges said.

"Buildings that achieve all these things at once are rare, and for the Festival Centre to have done so for 50 years is truly worthy of celebration."

Adelaide Festival Centre is one of Australia's most active arts centres and presents festivals, performances, exhibitions, major musicals and art activities. Every year, it hosts more than 1100 performances welcomes one million visitors and more than 70,000 children, students, teachers, and their families.

Adelaide Festival Centre features Festival Theatre, Dunstan Playhouse, Space Theatre, Children's Artspace, Festival Theatre Galleries, Star Kitchen and Bar and owns and operates Her Majesty's Theatre which recently underwent a stunning redevelopment.

Then Labor premier Don Dunstan and prime minister Gough Whitlam opened the centre. Current arts minister Andrea Michaels said Don Dunstan understood that art and culture were powerful ways to connect people together, and the centre had brought people together to experience the arts' magic for 50 years.

"The opening of Adelaide Festival Centre marked the beginning of our state's globally renowned reputation as the 'Festival State' and we have continued to lead the way ever since with so many extraordinary artists and performers taking to its stages during that time," she said.

Current prime minister Anthony Albanese said when it was opened, two "great Labor leaders... stood shoulder to shoulder" and launched the country's first arts centre.

"Both leaders were adamant believers in the power of culture to strengthen society and bringing us all together. Half a century on, my government believes and acts on the same convictions."

The awards did not stop there; the Adelaide Festival Plaza Stage 1 - the space outside the centre - received the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects 2023 SA Landscape Architecture Award for Civic Landscape on Friday, June 30. Judges said the plaza is a "key civic space for the City of Adelaide with a long history of complex and competing uses, stakeholder interests and technical challenges."

"Started in 2011, the precinct project has now delivered a stylish, multifunctional place servicing Festival Theatre patrons, a rich evolving calendar of civic events for the festival state and the regular passage of commuters and riverfront wanderers."

Looking for more information?