'We Built This City' by Polyglot Theatre first emerged 20 years ago in Melbourne’s City Square – now home to the Metro Tunnel Town Hall Station site. After travelling across the globe to places like the US, Japan, Taiwan and Korea, it returned to the city for a special 20th anniversary presentation, in collaboration with Melbourne Fringe.

The architectural playground took over Parkville’s University Square for 2 days of fun for the family (or groups of mates) in December 2021.The area became an energetic space filled with thousands of cardboard boxes and a DJ spinning tunes all day long.

Families, kids and the young-at-heart joined the Polyglot artists and construction workers to build a 'city' of boxes from scratch in just 60 minutes. Then, at the end of the hour, it was all stomped back to the ground. The large-scale cardboard construction site was designed to bring communities together and spark creativity and connection.

Watch the video to see Simon Abrahams from Melbourne Fringe and Sue Giles from Polyglot theatre – along with kids and performers – talk about what fun they had!

Photography by Theresa Harrison.