Melbournians are gaining a true cultural heart with the completion of the Melbourne Recital Centre and Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) buildings in Southbank.

Part of the Southbank Cultural Precinct Redevelopment, the project is the first permanent home for the MTC and aims to reinvigorate the city’s Arts and Theatre district.

A collaboration of architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall (ARM) and acoustic consultants, Arup Acoustics, the new recital hall utilises the classic and acoustically efficient ‘shoebox’ form.

"We began considering the (im)possibilities of a vessel for music, the elegant container for the ineffable, catching the uncatchable, packing and shipping the unholdable,” say ARM architects on the Melbourne Recital Hall website.

“Part of this manifestation is the idea that performed music, unlike recorded music is precious – so the container was a protector of these precious ephemera. The new hall would be the packaging for an invisible treasure."

The hall had to meet the acoustic and aesthetic standards of the famous Wigmore Hall in London, Musikvereinsaal in Vienna and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, but the building itself is a very modern alternative – a bold statement of angles and cellular cladding.

The 1000-seat recital hall and 500-seat MTC Theatre will be officially opened in February 2009.

melbournerecital.com.au