The Gold Coast City Council last week unveiled the first major project in the 17-hectare Gold Coast Cultural Precinct: a double-sided amphitheatre with a hosting capacity of 5,000 people. This was a new beginning for the precinct, which will be known as HOTA, or The Home of the Arts.
The amphitheatre was designed by Arm Architecture and German landscape firm Topetek 1 after they beat over 75 other entries in an international design competition.
The stage one cultural project – which has the amphitheatre as the centrepiece, and is valued at over $37.5 million – is just a short walk from Surfers Paradise at Evandale. It will bring something new to the area, as the amphitheatre itself is a marvel of both architecture and landscaping. Its stage is 20 metres wide from wall-to-wall, 1.4 metres high, and boasts a 5.5-tonne bi-fold proscenium door. This doesn’t even account for the 100-tonne self-supporting screen which projects performers from the sun, the living roof of the stage that comprises of more than 20,000 plants, or the more than 1.5 hectares of landscaped lawns that it is the centre of.
Stage Two of HOTA Project (Artists Rendering)
Stage two of the project, which is scheduled to begin mid-to-late 2018, includes a new green bridge to Chevron Island. This will be followed in late 2018 by a new Art Gallery, which will be the largest regional art gallery in Australia.
The Gold Coast City Council also announced that the first outdoor program at HOTA will be commencing in March this year, featuring a number of well-known performers, collaborations and local talent.
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