South Melbourne Market External Food Hall: An Interview with Bourke and Bouteloup Architects
The South Melbourne Market External Food Hall demonstrates how thoughtful, collaborative design can enrich a city’s cultural and social fabric. Designed by Bourke and Bouteloup Architects, the project blends prefabricated timber structures, community-driven design, and symbolic references to market traditions. The result is a lively, sustainable, and intimate space that enhances both the function and identity of the market. In this interview, the architects share their design philosophy, technical strategies, and the community’s response to the project.
Can you tell us about your practice Bourke and Bouteloup Architects and your general design process?
Bourke and Bouteloup Architects is a creative and collaborative practice with expertise in designing and delivering community, learning, and support environments. Our process is rooted in engaging stakeholders to fully understand a client’s brief, culture, and ambitions.
We integrate sustainability, flexibility, and technology into all of our projects, while also focusing on how architecture can respond to the climate and biodiversity emergency. Our goal is to create meaningful, resilient architecture that strengthens connections between site, city, and environment.
How did the principles of Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) influence the overall design and construction process of the External Food Hall, particularly in terms of reducing construction time and minimizing disruption to the market?
We worked closely with the fabricator to refine the design for precision machining of plantation pine into modular elements. Custom steel junctions and nodes were developed to minimise visual impact and allow simple bolt-together assembly without cranes.
DfMA principles shaped a system that could be built using small timber elements, handled by two installers on scissor lifts. This approach avoided shutting down car parking or impacting the adjacent kindergarten and trees. Construction was efficient, with prefabricated parts assembled like a ‘meccano set’, ensuring minimal disruption to the busy market.
The timber diagrid structure and ‘A’-frame columns play a crucial role in the design. How were these prefabricated elements engineered to optimize strength while maintaining aesthetic harmony within the market environment?
The ‘A’-frame columns spread loads to reduce the need for deep footings, limiting soil removal and environmental disruption. Their placement defines a semi-enclosed space and integrates benches, encouraging a range of dining experiences.
This structural system balances strength and elegance, supporting the timber diagrid canopy while contributing to the hall’s distinctive market character.
The canopy design, inspired by the traditional market palette, creates a visual connection with the market’s identity. How did you balance this symbolic reference with functional aspects like weather protection and light control?
The canopy’s profiled edge provides depth, weather protection, and the illusion of a flat front despite the roof’s slope. To bring light into the covered space, we cut a large rhomboid opening in the centre, covered with translucent roofing.
This design ensures the canopy offers protection while allowing daylight to animate the timber frame, creating a vibrant, welcoming environment.
The layout of the dining spaces is intimate, encouraging informal social gatherings. How did you design the flow of movement and seating arrangements to balance privacy, comfort, and openness in a busy market context?
Furniture layout was carefully planned to maintain critical egress dimensions for safety while accommodating equipment access. The placement of the A-frame columns provides subtle boundaries, helping define spaces for gathering while maintaining flow.
The result is a layout that balances intimacy and openness, allowing for comfortable dining experiences in a lively market setting.
Can you share any insights into the community’s response to the new External Food Hall and how it has reshaped the dynamic of the South Melbourne Market as a social and culinary hub?
The community has embraced the space, particularly in inclement or hot weather, when it provides much-needed shelter and respite. By supporting the congested internal food hall, it has become a valued extension of the market.
In recognition of its impact, the project was awarded a Design and Development Award by the City of Port Phillip in 2024.
