Launceston's shopping precinct near the Brisbane Street mall could have had a very different look.
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Plans, models and plans were drawn in the 1950s by a group of Launceston businessmen and families, which included the late Dick Green.
The block in question is located south of the Brisbane Street Mall, and proposed to the council of the day a modern (for the time) shopping experience for Launceston residents.
A look at what might have been and a chance to examine the evolution of a CBD block is now the focus of a new award announced by the Dick and Joan Green family.
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The prominent Northern Tasmanian family made a generous donation to the University of Tasmania to launch the new architecture award - a new hands-on unit available to undergraduates and masters architecture students.
The award is a semester-long project which the students will use to examine the plans and proposals and use it to finish what Dick and his friends started all those years ago.
The plans will also be used as inspiration for the students to develop an alternative proposal for the modern time, thanks to some help from some prominent Tasmanian and mainland architects.
The award was launched earlier this year and will run every two years, on the off year to the Dick and Joan Green family's other award - the literary history prize.
The literary history prize is a competition that recognises Tasmanian authors who have written books on Tasmanian heritage or history, which are key tenets that are important to the Green family.
Dick was instrumental in setting up the National Trust and was the first chairman of the board.
He and Joan worked tirelessly to help restore Northern Tasmania's heritage houses including Franklin House and Clarendon House.
UTAS Bachelor of Architecture and Built Environment coordinator Andrew Steen said the Dick and Joan Green Family architecture award offered students a unique opportunity to unpick and understand the evolution of a city.
"In 1955, Dick Green was part of a group that put forward a plan to infill the block south of Launceston's pedestrian mall to develop and modernise the city's shopping experience," Dr Steen said.
"There are some beautiful drawings and inspiring ideas for Launceston, with sets of designs and plans, and lengthy documents outlining the proposal to the council of the day.
"It represents an alternate future that never happened. In this design studio, our students will rewind the clock and then press play again."
Dr Steen said students would be using the proposal to interpret Launceston's central business district and the eclectic block between Brisbane and York, and St John and Charles Streets.
"We'll explore how Launceston may have developed and students will create their own proposals for the city, new alternate timelines branching off from 1955."
The studio will encourage a sophisticated response to heritage, something the Green family believes is important.
"We are excited by the course program that been developed for the 2019 Design Studio Award and the underlying heritage project based on plans developed in the 1950s for a Launceston block," Dick and Joan's daughter Caroline Johnston said.
The award was launched on March 27 at UTAS' Inveresk campus - the home of the architecture school.
The launch featured an exhibition of the plans from 1955, some of the students' early work and a panel discussion with highly regarded architects Mat Hinds and Kerstin Thompson.
The Green Family Award will also support a series of lectures bringing internationally regarded architects to Launceston, which are open to the public.
"We are delighted to see the commencement of our family's second award and to be working again with the University of Tasmania," Mrs Johnston said.
"The family hopes the award will encourage and develop, in architecture students and the wider Tasmanian community, a greater appreciation of heritage projects, past and present."
UTAS executive director of advancement Kate Robertson said Dick and Joan Green were "renowned champions of heritage and instrumental in the establishment of the National Trust in Tasmania".
"This new award, which follows the family's award for Tasmanian history, is an example of how philanthropy can drive innovation in teaching and research," Ms Robertson said.
"Our students are learning in ways that are not possible anywhere else in the world, unravelling the past and possible futures of Launceston with the support and insights of the people who helped shape it."
Mrs Johnston said the family knew they wanted to connect with the architecture school at UTAS in some way but wanted to make their next contribution different to the literary prize.
"We wanted to give students an opportunity they might not have had before," she said.
"We also wanted to have the entire cohort benefit from it, not just one or two people."
She said it was nice to know the project her dad had started had "come full circle" with this prize.
"The project [her dad started] didn't get up in the end but the ideas were still very valid," she said.
"It will be fantastic to see the students take elements of the current and old design to explore the whole space."
The award will culminate with a student exhibition of the works and models they have created.
Details on the lecture series can be found online.