The precise location of Brisbane’s new 63,000 seat Olympic stadium within Victoria Park remains unconfirmed, with three distinct site alignments now emerging in the public realm, each positioned in different sections of the 64 hectare inner city parkland.
While the Queensland Government officially backed Victoria Park for the stadium earlier this year, the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority is yet to announce which part of the park will host the venue. Concepts uncovered so far reveal contrasting approaches to how the stadium could be integrated with the landscape and connected to transport infrastructure.
One of the most detailed visions has been prepared by Brisbane architecture firm Blight Rayner. Submitted to Graham Quirk’s 60 day Olympic venue review in 2023 and later revealed through a Right to Information request, the concept places the stadium in the north eastern corner of the park, near the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and the RNA Showgrounds.
Blight Rayner director Michael Rayner said the proposed site had a flatter terrain and would allow much of the parkland to remain intact. “I wanted to try and keep the bulk of Victoria Park intact, with the idea that the Lord Mayor’s revitalisation vision for Victoria Park could still be implemented,” he told the Brisbane Times. “In other words, if you put the stadium too much in the middle, it could make a donut out of the park and so I was trying to move it to an edge such that the bulk of the park was still visible as parkland.”
Rayner also noted the benefit of locating the stadium near the upgraded Exhibition Station, which is currently under construction as part of the Cross River Rail project. “You want dispersal to occur, but without necessarily everyone having to trace through the length of the park to get there,” he said.
Alternative options have also appeared. A separate proposal by Archipelago as part of its Brisbane Bold vision suggested a southern alignment closer to the Inner City Bypass, while a conceptual rendering released by the state government in its Olympic delivery plan showed the stadium positioned in the south western part of the park.
Rayner acknowledged those variations and said some placements may be influenced by unresolved acoustic testing or terrain. “It may have been a concern over the acoustics, I do not know, but that is yet to be tested,” he said. “And I did a rough topographical study, and while it is sloping all over the park, it is reasonably amenable in that area to put the stadium on it. It has less slope than other parts.”
The Blight Rayner scheme also proposes locating warm up facilities off site at the nearby Queensland University of Technology sports field, which Rayner said would avoid the kind of planning issues encountered with the Gabba proposal. “You do not have a Raymond Park problem that you had at the Gabba,” he said.
While Rayner described the current stadium design as a placeholder, he emphasised the opportunity to deliver a venue that blurs the line between structure and park. “It is not one where you have got a big veil around it and you are either in the stadium or you are in the park. You want to be in both simultaneously,” he said. “That could lead to a very different kind of typology than anything that has been done before.”
He said he hoped the Games Authority or the state government would hold a design competition for the final stadium, with the potential to create a civic landmark that reflects Brisbane’s character. “It reveals a whole lot of concepts at once, so I hope they go that way. It can become the symbol of Brisbane in every respect, a great sporting state, etc.”
Rayner said that even if eight hectares of land were used for the stadium, the remaining 56 hectares of parkland would still represent a significant public asset. “To me, it is not a massive loss of parkland. It is not a fearmongering thing where you say stadium or park, it is stadium and park.”
The Queensland Government is expected to confirm a preferred alignment within Victoria Park later this year. Until then, the final form of the Olympic stadium and how it connects with transport, topography and the broader vision for Victoria Park remains a live question.
An open comp like the 2001 Qld Modern Art Gallery would be great, so we can all have a crack! And there is plenty of time (Architects are never given a lot of time for such things and we do alright). If not a comp, a tried and tested, non-self-aggrandising architect please; not more ego serving ‘iconics’. Brisbane wants quality; fresh and open timelessness – Michael R’s concept is on the right track. (also whoever is the lucky one to win the contract for the Masterplan, please be careful with the Centenary pool!! It’s about as “Brisbane” as it comes- There is your icon!)
A fantastic article, thank you. This area has been a meeting point for First Nations people for many years. For me, I see the stadium as an extension of this: a place that will bring the world together in 2032 and a place that will bring our communities together in celebration of sport, music, and other events for generations to come. I love the idea that it will be a park and a stadium and I believe it is important that this message is not lost.
This park is a meeting place for ALL Australians. Let’s not forget the other 97%.
Blight Rayner’s choice of location makes sense. Not just from a “preserve the park” perspective, but utilization of existing public transport. Not only the Ekka station, but the Metro stops of RBWH and Herston are in this section of the park as well. You really want to target that “100m to 400m walking distance from mass-transport nodes” and I don’t see any other spot in Vic park that will provide that.
The bonus is there’s already pedestrian underpasses linking the area just north of Exhibition station to Vic Park. And slightly south of the train tracks, there’s an unused train underpass beneath Bowen Bridge/ Northern Busway that could be turned into a pedestrian walkway.
Unless there’s plans for another train station further towards Brisbane Grammar, this site is a good fit. Funds for a new station would be better off sunk into creating a land bridge to span between the existing landbridge overpass at York’s hollow, extending all the way to the Eastern edge at Bowen Bridge. That would link the Stadium, Centenary pool and Exhibition Station all together.
Brisbane’s growth trajectory deserves a 100,000 seat capacity venue at minimum. Melbourne has the MCG! Brisbane is no longer a little brother to the big States. Lets help Brisbane become the international city it is destined to be.