The A'Beckett Urban Square provides a much-needed recreational open space with basketball courts, BBQ’s, table tennis, green space and places to sit and relax.

The site was a large underutilised city car park site surrounded by residential apartments and university buildings, which has now been transformed into a temporary public space focussed on recreation and relaxation.

The project is an RMIT initiative supported by the Melbourne City Council to help activate the city, support contemporary student culture and demonstrate good sustainable practice, and good community citizenship.

The idea of a temporary inhabitation of a large vacant car park site fits well into contemporary culture – the ‘pop-up’ venture has brought a new energy to urban life – using leftover and under-utilised spaces. Pop-ups often utilise and recycle simple materials and objects as a clever adaptation of the everyday –curated rather than designed. the space has been further activated by a large scale commissioned art work by Ash Keating.

There are six key design themes:

Demountable
It is temporary therefore it has been made as a demountable installation – truck it in – truck it out, a recyclable kit-of-parts and good sustainable practice

Active & Engage
A place for casual recreation, mainly for ball sports – like basketball and volleyball with 2 full size courts and 2 half courts

Relax & Watch
A place to socialise, relax and watch people, with lots of casual seating, spectator tiering and benches. Active spaces are safe spaces.

Learning Exchange
A place for informal learning with Wi-Fi access and spaces to gather. The eastern edge connects across Stewart Street, which is closed to traffic, to the SAB building and main campus

Soft & Green
A soft green fringe with perimeter street trees, plants in tubs and artificial turf as a social space

Urban Theatre
A place for events and interaction – both organised and incidental. A playful, colourful space with a major commissioned art work