Alliance Francaise de Melbourne

New French Hub in Melbourne

Alliance Française de Melbourne is an iconic non-for-profit association dedicated to the promotion of French language and culture in Australia. When their previous home in St Kilda became too dilapidated, they relocated to the CBD to create a new headquarters that would become the centre of all things French in Melbourne.

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Their brief called for a vibrant new hub to express their cultural identity without being cliché.  The new location also needed to be converted from an existing office building to accommodate teaching classrooms, cultural event spaces, a gallery and media displays, and a workspace for their employees.

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The layout for their new hub takes inspiration from The Seine, and create a wide flowing circulation space that can link together each cultural zone, and act as a dynamic path that can transform into a gallery, meeting spot, or private reading nook. This ‘river’ eventually forms into the largest communal area, used for events and film screenings. The main glazed façade allows natural light to flood into the most habitable shared spaces, and pass through the new large glass partitions into the classrooms.

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To combat the profound waste inherent in commercial fitouts, we aimed to re-use a large portion of recently installed elements found in the existing space, including the plywood window boxes, shelving units, light fittings, acoustic panels and some services. Each re-used element has been woven into the new material palette, which draws from the Alliance Française colours, particularly red, dark blue, and fuchsia pink. We also introduced some warm and natural tones, such as the timber window frames and doors, parquetry floors, and curved plywood paneling, to create a more congenial and personal environment, and to differentiate the space as a cultural hub, instead of a commercial fitout.

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