Deakin Edge

Great event space with an intimate feel and mostly tiered seating to ensure good viewing for all. Love seeing the yarra through the atrium glass backdrop.

(«Seizing the Australian Moment» at @melbwritersfest earlier this year) I quite like this venue… you feel like it’s an intimate setting when you are seated, despite being in a very very open area. Fits lots of people and capacity for people to wander around non-​committally up the top without disturbing the intimacy of the performance from the stage.

Corporate branding aside, the BMW Edge is a warm, friendly and light-​filled auditorium in which to see events on various festival programs (such as panels and talks) or music concerts, with a bar area behind the seating large enough to allow for gas-​bagging before and after. With a vast glass wall behind the stage, looking out to the river, it has the appearance of being very open, yet when everyone is seated and an event is underway, it actually feels very insular and the acoustics are fantastic.
I’ve been to many writers’ festival events in here, from the Melbourne Writers Fest to the Emerging Writers Fest, but often I just wander in on the weekends if there’s something happening. Most recently I happened upon the Hungarian Festival and ended up with a drink and a plate of pierogis in hand, watching Hungarian dancing.

I’ve been to this auditorium at Federation Square many times for fashion shows with C. during the Melbourne Fashion Festival, talks and performances of John Cage music for the Melbourne Festival. It works well for all of them.
It is easy to get to as it is in Federation Square and only few minutes walk from the platforms at Flinders Street Station. It is a flexible auditorium with a large open forecourt that opens into the even larger forecourt of the NGV’s Ian Potter Centre. It is often open during the day and when there is no event going on you can just walk in and admire the large, glass, wood and steel space.
Although the seating, descending to the stage looks a bit vertiginous and intimidating, it is comfortable and like the rest of BMW Edge beautifully designed. I hate the meaningless corporate logo name of the place.

Best suited to jazz and/​or vocal performances or to public speaking events, this impressive venue is quintessentially Melbourne. This means that everything about it is designed within an inch of its life, there are lots of straight lines, you can see the river and its just as good in the daytime as at night. Oh, and if there’s a reason you’re going, chances are you’ll know someone when you get there.
The «stage» is at the bottom, with all the seats (wooden, carved, not the most comfortable) looking down. Everything is organised, quirky in an expensive, government funded kind of way, but this quirkiness leads to a great flexibility in how the space can be used. You might have seen it on TV, as it’s become the venue of choice for political forums and lectures from visiting dignitaries.