Renewal rolls on

Docklands Spaces continues to grow with a third project moving into the NewQuay Piazza last month.

Musk Architecture Studio has moved into a retail space in the piazza in hope of promoting its business, enlivening the precinct and building a creative community.

Docklands Spaces is an initiative of Renew Australia and involves landlords allowing creative enterprises to use unleased spaces on a short-term basis.

Properties are made available on a month-to-month basis, allowing landlords to reclaim their property quickly should they get a commercial offer.

Landlords bear no cost, with insurance and overheads covered by not-for-profit Renew Australia, which is funded by City of Melbourne, Places Victoria and MAB Corporation.

The first two projects, 3D printers Studio Batch and hamper company Bird & Plane moved into the piazza in March.

Musk Architecture Studio, comprised of architects Hannes McNamara, Daniel Yusko, Chris Le Page and Loris Rebeschini, is now sharing Studio Batch’s large retail space.

“We wanted to be in a studio space with other creatives like batch so we can work with them and collaborate a bit more,” Mr Yusko said.

The four architects have been working together for about 18 months and focus primarily on residential architecture.

“This is the first time the team has worked in a larger studio space so it’s good to be in an area that’s starting to regenerate,” Mr Yusko said.

“It’s going through a bit of a transition phase so we’re glad to be down here while there’s a bit of activity and construction going on.”

Docklands Spaces has allowed the group to move from a small home office in Abbotsford into a bigger space where it can experiment with architecture exhibitions and teaching opportunities.

Mr McNamara said the group planned to run student workshops and invite architecture students to also use the space.

While they don’t know how long they’ll have access to the space, Mr McNamara said they might consider sticking around.

“If we become comfortable in Docklands and it works and we get kicked out of here then we might look at finding something else in the area,” he said.

More creative enterprises are soon expected to move into the piazza, with Renew Australia receiving 80 expressions of interest before first round applications closed in January.

Renew Australia is continuing negotiations with property owners to finalise license agreements for access to other unused properties.