ABC Brisbane

Gain an insight into how stories are produced for Radio, TV and online when you tour ABC Brisbane, Southbank.

Officially opened by the Governor-General, Ms Quentin Bryce AC CVO, in April 2012, the ABC Brisbane building fits seamlessly into the city’s arts and cultural precinct. It is both home for 350 ABC employees and 120 musicians and operations staff of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO).

Covering 15,000m2, the building contains specialist radio and television spaces and a 600m2 Media Production Studio, which is also a rehearsal studio for the QSO.

The architectural emphasis is on light and space with the building layout predominantly open plan to encourage workflows, complemented by communal hubs, breakout spaces and quiet rooms. The building design complements and links the current cultural and educational uses of the South Bank Parklands. It completes the built edge along the eastern side of Grey Street and reinforces the precedent of other pedestrian entrances to the South Bank Parklands from the west that are ‘framed’ by buildings on either side.

The ABC and the QSO are public institutions and the design of the building responds to this by creating and defining open public spaces around its perimeter and by maximising transparency to the surrounding streets and parklands. Sitting above the entrance foyer and a 24-hour-a-day news feed, the 612 ABC Brisbane radio studio is a striking focal point of the building on the corner of Russell Street and the parklands’ arbour.