Celebrating the 2022 opening round – available for everyone to attend
The 2022 AFL Festival of Footy Live Sites ran from Wednesday 16 March to Sunday 20 March 2022 and was located on the landscaped lawns at Yarra Park, East Melbourne. The live sites included partner activation zones, licenced area, general seating, and back-of-house areas. The Live Sites were accessible to the general public. As part of this event several temporary structures were provided including individual sponsor marquees, support marquees, sanitary facilities, and general areas.
TLA Worldwide consulted Architecture & Access to deliver access consulting to the Live Site activation areas on the wide range of needs of people with a disability within the built environment and to consider the goals and principles of Universal Design.
Our services included:
- Design reviews
- Performance solution assessments
- Regulatory authority submissions and liaison
- Construction assistance
- Site inspections
- Risk assessments
- Construction completion statements
Major partner Toyota and Gemba created an engaging and captivating fan activation supporting Toyota’s long running footy ‘Oh What a Feeling’ position. The well-known tradition of the Legends Lap of Honour on Grand Final Day was recreated by designing the Toyota legends Lap of Honour. Fans were able to live the dream and complete their own Lap of Honour around the iconic G. Fans could step into the tray of a new HiLux and have a photo taken, replicating the vibe of a packed-out MCG and share on their socials or to keep as a memento.
To ensure all fans of all abilities could share this experience Andrew Sanderson, Director and Senior Access Consultant at Architecture Access created an elegant solution that utilised a platform lift. “Designing a wheelchair lift positioned adjacent to the vehicle enabled facilitation of patrons with disabilities to access the activation and receive the same photographic outcome and take away”, explains Andrew.
This cleverly located platform lift allowed the wheelchair patron to approach the Hilux from a specifically built ramp and position themselves onto the platform lift. The lift was then operated by trained event staff to raise the patron to a level that allowed photographic framing to match that of other patrons.
The transient nature of festivals and events can create both challenges and opportunities for providing access for people with disability. Architecture & Access continue to identify access issues in the early planning stages and provide dynamic, on-the-ground problem solving during the event set-up by applying creative design, knowledge and experience.
