Docklands in Melbourne is a new city reflective of contemporary art and multicultrualism. The city fringe that has been shaping up into a trendy part of the city, looks over to the old Melbourne city sky line and it's a contrast of what the old Melbourne stands for. The old Melbourne stands for European culture, coffee, trams, Italian food, grundgy laneways, buskers, crowded street lanes and more. Docklands on the other hand is a city trying to carve out a different identity.
A view of Melbourne City Skyline from Docklands
In this journey, Docklands has stayed true to its core values: to be a modern city that's multicultural and busy. Although the place has struggled commercially to make any progress in the last decade, Docklands has a new vigour to its journey now. Restaurants may still remain half empty, but the plans in the offing gives the place hope to reach its destination in style.
A new Quest apartments and movie theatre is launching next year, apartment buildings are filling up, small markets on the water front are drawing crowds. All in all, Docklands is waking up as Melbourne's rich cousin. It was treated as a second class place that lacks character, but being inbetween the CBD and Melbourne's new trendy innerwest comes with some perks. And they have started becoming evident.
Enough of where Docklands is heading to now: I'm confident that the city will be a hot property in the next five years. But check out some of these images I took from a visit to the place for lunch today. I specially liked the sculptures.
There are eight, life-sized red men crouching in a meeting circle at New Quay Promenade in Docklands. Located to the south of MCR's The Quay apartments, the sculptural forms in Monument Park are evocative of the architectural expression.
The bronze crouching figures have been cast from one mould which was made from a life size model. All the sculptures are painted red, a colour that the artist sees as a multicultural colour, making it ideal for Melbourne’s diverse community.
In Chinese culture, the number eight is significant and is believed to bring good luck. The eight figures are 92 centimetres tall and each weighs 100 kilograms.
For those of you who haven't been to Melbourne, Docklands is a modern harbour development dominated by high-rises and the colourful Melbourne Star Observation Wheel, and popular for its shopping and waterside dining.