Adaptive reuse is rare on the Gold Coast. There's something almost punk-rock about it – and something entirely sustainable. Rather than demolishing and starting elsewhere, the City of Gold Coast chose to keep the bones of the old Surfers Paradise Transit Centre: the concrete coffered roof, its scale, its Beach Road address. Our job is to fundamentally change how it performs.

The hall, stage, back-of-house, bars and audience spaces are organised under the existing roof to meet the operational demands of a venue on the national touring circuit — this is the room that attracts the acts that bypassed the Gold Coast in the past. It will also be a civic space Surfers Paradise hasn’t had before, available for banquets, conferences, community events and corporate functions alongside the music program.

The building doesn't switch on only when a show begins. New retail and hospitality frontages activate Beach Road daily. The venue connects directly to the city's newest park, which will host outdoor performance, cinema and large-scale events. An 870-space basement carpark directly beneath the building makes arrival easy.

The facade reads as a series of cubic forms printed with abstracted Gold Coast sunsets – an oasis mirage, a nod to the natural beauty that makes this place what it is. It channels the spirit of Bombay Rock and The Playroom, and shows how architecture can carry Gold Coast's culture forward.

Construction is underway, with Gold Coast's most recognised visitor precinct being renewed around it.