100 Story Building is moving to a temporary 'STORY Lab'
Front doors at 100 Story Building. Image by Matto Lucas Photography
Our new 'STORY (Surveying of Tectonic Oscillation and Reconnaissance Yard) Lab' at MetroWest
Over the last few months, we’ve heard rumblings from below the building and thought nothing of it. Maybe it's just the reverberation of dancing narwhals? But suddenly weeds and rubble started to appear above the trapdoor and we think some of the creatures who inhabit the 99 levels have been expanding and adventuring sideways! We always suspected the levels might be a growth corridor, but we can't get down our trapdoor to investigate because it is so overgrown with weeds!
The solution: find a larger and more suitable access point (that's not blocked by weeds), so we can stay connected to the levels, monitoring and documenting the changes that we’re seeing and hearing.
Luckily, we've picked up some stronger signals in a neighbouring temporary space just down the street, and the whole organisation is shipping out to be based there to interpret the radar readings of the underground activity of the levels without weed interference.
From the start of August you can find us at our new 'STORY (Surveying of Tectonic Oscillation and Reconnaissance Yard) Lab' at New Footscray Hospital Jobs Hub (138 Nicholson St, Footscray). There, we will be experimenting with electronic sensors to listen in on what's happening on the levels while continue to hold our regular after-school programs and school workshops. Our trusty team will be there too, decoding underground signals and gathering intel for the next couple of months so please drop by and say hello - maybe you can help us decode what we pick up on our radar?
While based at the temporary STORY Lab we search for a new space and permanent access point to the levels below. A new larger space will increase our capacity, allowing us to reach more children and young people and develop new and exciting programs for young people in Melbourne's west and further afield. We could not be more excited about this opportunity, and what we will discover during our research period. We are sure that the young adventurers who come to the Lab will help us plan and design spectacularly weird and wonderful things for our next 100 Story Building space.
Galaxy wall and office at 100 Story Building. Image by Matto Lucas Photography
For over nine years, 100 Story Building has been key to the development of friendships, support networks, social skills and wellbeing for those who access our space. It has been the home of after-school programs, hosted thousands of school and holiday workshops, and supported hundreds of schools and families through programs that increase creative confidence, sense of belonging, and literacy skills in children and young people.
This work will continue and expand in a new space and we are excited for the next chapter in the 100 Story Building story. So grab a hard hat, transmitter and follow the electromagnetic waves to our temporary home for new ideas and new ways to create.
100 Story Building - STORY Lab
MetroWest, 138 Nicholson Street, Footscray 3011
Office hours: 9am - 5pm
