Plans for a mega entertainment precinct to be built over and around Brisbane’s Roma Street Station are drawing comparisons to Madison Square Garden in New York City and LA Live in Los Angeles.

Brought to you by The NRA Collaborative (the new moniker for Noel Robinson Architects), ‘Brisbane Live’ will bring a new entertainment facility to the western edge of the CBD, along with a suite of new commercial, cultural, hotel and residential buildings.

Gathering the most attention so far is the project’s new $450 million entertainment arena which will seat 17,000 people and also play host to a 4000-capacity rock club. The Brisbane Arena will also be surrounded by multiplex cinemas, restaurants and bars, and a giant screen and amphitheatre, but it’s where it’s located that is of most intrigue.

The precinct:
No.1: The proposed Brisbane Arena
No. 4,5,6: The proposed commercial towers
No. 16, 18 and 19: The proposed cultural buildings

The organically shaped Brisbane Arena

Much like New York’s Madison Square Garden, which is situated atop Pennsylvania Station, the Brisbane Arena will be built above Brisbane’s largest railway interchange hub, Roma Street Station. Parts of the existing station building will be retained within the design, enveloped by the precinct’s massive podium and surrounded by the new additions, and the interchange will remain fully functional.

Plans show parts of the Roma Station buildings retained

Of those new additions, three will be majorly commercial and will be built along site’s flank at Roma Street. Initial plans show a 90-storey residential tower, a connected commercial and hotel building– not unlike Melbourne’s 447 Collins Street—and a smaller tower, which will all share an activated podium with a shopping centre.

Above and left: The three commercial towers in section and artist impression.

Further up on the site’s western edges, NRA have proposed three cultural facilities inspired by “organic shapes and fluidity” which will be fit for use as theatres and museums.

The project has been proposed by the world’s largest entertainment venue operator, AEG Ogden who are also the team developing Hassell and Populous’ Sydney International Convention Centre.

AEG Ogden also manages the nearby Suncorp Stadium as well as the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre and the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

All images: NRA Co Lab

Nathan Johnson

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