The Concourse, Chatswood

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The Concourse, Chatswood
Chatswood Concourse sunset.jpg
The Concourse at sunset
The Concourse, Chatswood
General information
Address409 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, New South Wales
Coordinates 33°47′44″S151°11′00″E / 33.7956886°S 151.1833663°E / -33.7956886; 151.1833663
Opened2011-09-10
Other information
Seating capacity Concert Hall 1000

Theatre 500

Civic Pavilion 500
Website
The Concourse

The Concourse is a cultural centre in the North Shore suburb of Chatswood, which is a 20-minute journey from the Sydney Central Business District. In 2007, the City of Willoughby commissioned new designs to replace the old Chatswood Civic Centre.

Contents

History

The first Willoughby Town Hall was built on the site in 1903. The hall doubled as the Council Chambers and the site was shared with the Council Pound, the School of Arts, and the Ku-ring-gai Masonic Lodge. A three-story administration building was also built on the site in 1967 (with a fourth floor added in 1980).[ citation needed ]

The new cultural complex was designed by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp [1] architects. Following demolition of the old buildings, construction began on The Concourse in July 2008 at a cost of approximately $162 million [2] and was complete in July 2011. The complex was officially opened on 17 September 2011 by the Governor of NSW, Marie Bashir. [3]

In addition to a 5,000 m2 library, The Concourse at Chatswood features a large public open space, a 500-seat theatre, rehearsal spaces, a 1,000-seat concert hall, cafés, retail and commercial outlets, a boutique hotel, and a multi-purpose exhibition hall. The Concourse also includes car parking over two basement levels and a 5,000 m3 stormwater detention tank as part of an integrated water management system. [4] Within the ground floor of The Concourse is The Art Space, which is a gallery and a community space that features weekly art exhibitions from local artists and art collectives. It measures 92 m2, and is equipped with professional track lighting and hanging systems.[ citation needed ]

For the Chatswood Library, where reading light for eyes of all ages was a central issue, lighting specialists Klik Systems were enlisted to design & construct energy-efficient beam luminaires. The Chatswood library occupies 5,000 m2 on the lower ground level, entered via the main podium.[ citation needed ]

Patrons

Patrons of The Concourse include leading figures in Australia's arts industries including soprano Yvonne Kenny, poet Les Murray, authors Matthew Reilly and Renée Goossens, and rock icon Angry Anderson AM.

Reilly, author of the best-selling thriller Ice Station, said "For any writer, it all starts at your local library. Chatswood Library on The Concourse offers the next generation of Willoughby-born writers an opportunity to work in a marvellous state-of-the-art facility – right on their own doorstep."[ citation needed ]

Murray said "As a supporter and user of the Willoughby Library, I am greatly impressed by the increased size of the new library…private study rooms, meeting rooms, state-of-the-art IT facilities and lovely sunny and shaded spaces for quiet reading… the new library will be a great match for the many enthusiastic visitors it receives."[ citation needed ]

The library was complete and open for the National Year of Reading 2012 in Australia.

Productions

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks 2.jpg
Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks 4.jpg
Todd McKenney and Nancye Hayes performing together in Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (2016 Ensemble Theatre production at The Concourse, photos by Clare Hawley)

The Ensemble Theatre has staged productions at The Concourse. In 2014, artistic director Sandra Bates mounted performances of all three plays in David Williamson's Jack Manning Trilogy– Face to Face , A Conversation , and Charitable Intent – back-to-back. In 2016, in her final directorial role, Bates reunited with Todd McKenney and Nancye Hayes for a reprise of their 2006 production of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks , [5] [6] which became the most successful production in the Ensemble's 58-year history. [7]

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References

Notes
  1. ↑ "Home". fjmt.com.au.
  2. ↑ "Willoughby Council - Project Funding and Costs". Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  3. ↑ "Chatswood - The Concourse". www.visitchatswood.com.au. Archived from the original on 15 May 2012.
  4. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : Sustainability Tour of the Concourse.mp4. YouTube .
  5. ↑ Hallett, Bruce (13 February 2006). "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  6. ↑ Huntsdale, Justin (17 February 2016). "Theatre legends Todd McKenney and Nancye Hayes unite for heart-warming play". Australia: ABC News . Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  7. ↑ Hook, Chris (3 February 2016). "Ten years later, McKenney and Hayes bring Six Dance Lessons play back for another spin on stage". The Daily Telegraph . Sydney. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
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