Melbourne’s iconic City Square will reopen next year as a main entrance to the new Town Hall Station, a year earlier than planned.
Transport Infrastructure Minister Danny Pearson shared the final designs for the revamped square, which will feature expanded spaces for events, retail, and dining, along with new landscaping and art installations.
Designed with input from Wurundjeri Elders, the new City Square will include a permanent Smoking Ceremony dish, with Woiwurrung language and artwork embedded in the paving and throughout the area. This is part of the Metro Tunnel’s Connection to Country initiative, which honors the Traditional Owners of the Kulin Nation on which the new metro stations are built.
The square will also have an interactive digital “water wall” along Collins Street that mimics the original Mockridge fountain, responding to people’s movements as they walk by. The bronze sculpture Beyond the Ocean of Existence will also return.
The Collins Street end of the square will soon house the main station entrance, with a glass canopy over five escalators leading down to a two-level concourse designed for more than 10,000 people during peak hours.
Landscaping work, including native plants and wider crossings, is already underway to improve safety and manage increased foot traffic.
City Square has been closed since 2017 for construction the construction of the Town Hall Station which is one of five new underground stations opening next year as part of the Metro Tunnel Project which will transform public transport in Melbourne.
Learn more about Town Hall Station.
