Participation means:
- people getting involved in design
- people coming up with design concepts
- people debating design concepts
- people making decisions about design
- people taking responsibility for what is designed
Over 12 months, people are invited to join workshops, events, and studios, many of which will be on the Civic Hall Site.
The process will both gather ideas and synthesise them. It will develop well-considered concept designs in 3 stages, from 300 to 10 to 5 and then finally 3 concepts. Each stage will be presented to the Ballarat City Council for endorsement. From this 3 the Ballarat City Council will chose one concept to develop further.
The Open Door Studio is in the foyer of the Civic Hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays and one Saturday each month. Here previous designs, studies and work in progress are available for people to look at, review, add to and draw. School groups and other community organisations will be invited to participate too. Here Studio, the core team coordinating the project will be onsite to discuss and draw out community ideas.
Concept designs will include architectural and urban design for the whole site, thinking about how it connects to the city and its feasibility into the future. These concepts will consider environmental sustainability, financing, organisations needed to run it, governance structures, ongoing costs, broader opportunities for Ballarat, and staging of any development over the medium term.