Council House, Perth
Encyclopedia
Council House is a 13-storey
office building
set beside Stirling Gardens
on St Georges Terrace
in Perth
, Western Australia
. The 47.9 metres (157.2 ft) building was designed by Howlett and Bailey Architects
and opened by The Queen
in 1963 after Perth hosted the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
. For most of its history, it has served as the headquarters for the City of Perth
.
Built in a modernist
style, the building has been the subject of vigorous public debate about its heritage value. Some parties, such as the Royal Australian Institute of Architects
, consider the building to be an important example of modernist architecture in the city, whilst others consider it ugly. These conflicting views led to animosity in the 1990s, when the State Government
refused to heritage list the property, and instead recommended its demolition. Despite this, the City of Perth opted to renovate the tower and keep it as its headquarters. Following this, the building was admitted to the State's Heritage Register.
in a building which came to be known as the Old Government Offices or Public Offices. The building was designed by Acting Civil Engineer Henry Reveley in August 1836 after he was asked to prepare plans for public offices on the site.
A call for tenders was made, and the tender accepted was for £1,833, well above the £1,200 maximum specified in the call for tenders. Payment was delayed until February 1839.
The Public Offices stood 10 metres (32.8 ft) back from St Georges Terrace
. The Legislative Council occupied the building until 1870, when it moved to a chamber adjoining the new Perth Town Hall
. The Legislative Council returned to the building in 1890 after the newly formed Legislative Assembly
took over that chamber.
In the 1890s, the building became a Post Office, before being taken over by the Department of Agriculture,
and the building continued to be used as public offices until 1961. Additions to the building in the 1930s included a second storey, which contained a Legislative Council room and offices for senior public servants. Showing its age, the building eventually became what was described as a "rat-infested hell-hole".
Immediately south of the Public Offices building stood the Soldiers' Institute building. This building was taken over from the Returned Soldiers' League by the ABC
in 1937 for its 6WF radio studio.
The Perth City Council
had been based from 1871 in the Perth Town Hall
, then in 1925 moved to offices in Murray Street
. The site of the Public Offices on St Georges Terrace was chosen as the site for a new home for the Perth City Council in 1954.
, Perth City Council in 1959 launched an international competition to design its new building. The brief in the competition was to design a "creative building that marked where Perth was at the time" and have the building ready in time for the opening of the Commonwealth Games.
There were 61 designs entered into the competition, including one by Jeffrey Howlett and Don Bailey from the Melbourne architectural firm Bates, Smart and McCutcheon. The jury assessing the competition entries, which included architect Harry Seidler
, described the Howlett-Bailey plan as "a remarkably simple solution to a complex problem" and declared them winners of the competition.
The ABC moved to new premises on Adelaide Terrace in 1960 when the Council House site was taken over by the Perth City Council for construction to begin.
Both the Public Offices and Soldiers' Institute buildings were demolished to make way for the redevelopment.
Excavations for construction of the building's foundations started in October 1961 and the first concrete pour occurred in November 1961. The building was not completely finished by the time Perth hosted the Commonwealth Games in November 1962, however the builders rushed to finish the ground, eighth, and 10th floors in time so that foreign dignitaries could be entertained in the reception areas.
Following the Games, the fit-out of the building was finished in March 1963, and on 25 March 1963 Queen Elizabeth II officially opened Council House, unveiling a 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) tall ceremonial plaque set in granite
from the original 1817 Waterloo Bridge
in London
.
Construction of Council House was performed by J. Hawkins and Son Pty Ltd, and cost £
1.5 million.
It was the first building in Perth to use complete window walling. In order to reduce the heat entering the building through these full-height windows, the building used internal blinds and external sun-breakers.
When the building was opened, all Perth City Council activities were moved there.
Part of Howlett and Bailey's plans for the complex included the extension of Terrace Road westwards across the sites of the Old Court House and the Supreme Court, but this was never done. Also part of their plan was the construction of an elliptical auditorium called the "Public Suite" behind Council House; the plan to build this was dropped after the completion of Council House, with the design reformulated by Howlett and Bailey and the building eventually built on the opposite side of Government House as the Perth Concert Hall.
which had been used to insulate the building's steel frame. The Council moved to office space in the Westralia Square building.
In 1994, Commissioners appointed by the State to oversee the break-up of the Perth City Council voted to demolish the building. At the time, refurbishment costs were estimated to run to $42 million. The State Government
's plan was to demolish the building and extend Stirling Gardens right across the site to beside Government House
, as part of a broader plan entitled "Perth - A City for People" which also included the Northbridge Tunnel
, the sinking of Riverside Drive, and the housing of Supreme Court
and District Court
under the one roof. The State Government suggested that the Council move in to the Old Treasury Building across St Georges Terrace, for which they offered an incentive of $30 million.
Significant public debate ensued about whether the building should be kept. Those prominent in the fight to save the building included Bill Warnock, architect Ken Adam, and the Royal Australian Institute of Architects
. Others said it was "out of date, unattractive, and out of step" with the older heritage buildings which surround it. Heritage Minister Graham Kierath also refused to place the building on the WA Register of Heritage Places, despite calls from the Heritage Council and the National Trust to do so. This decision "stunned" the Institute of Architects.
Despite the recommendation for demolition, in late 1995, the Councillors of the newly formed City of Perth had a feasibility study carried out into whether Council House could be refurbished. This feasibility study was carried out by Architects Cox Howlett and Bailey, of which one of the partners was the son of original designer Jeffrey Howlett, and cost $100,000. The study indicated that the building could be economically refurbished, and in December 1996 the Council unanimously agreed to press ahead with refurbishment plans, removing its asbestos and building an underground car park at the rear of the site. The decision to refurbish was helped by the fact that interest rates at the time were so low that it was cheaper to service a loan than to pay rent. At the time, the refurbishment was expected to cost around $26 million.
The new 95-bay car park at the rear of the building required the removal of a New Zealand Kauri Pine estimated to be up to 150 years old, and was described by Opposition MLC
John Cowdell as a "disgrace" which would undermine the heritage value of the precinct. There was also some concern expressed that the refurbishment might cause the building to lose heritage value through the updating of its interiors.
The contract to refurbish the building was won by John Holland Constructions, the construction company of Janet Holmes à Court
, on 29 July 1997, at a price of $25,314,000. The architect for the refurbishment was Geoffrey Clough of Peter Hunt and Daryl Jackson Architects. The building was "stripped back to bare bones" and the tiny tiles coating the building's distinctive "T"-shaped fins were removed, repaired, and re-glued to the surface. The refurbishment also involved the construction of a new "Lord Mayoral space and reception area" on the eleventh floor (formerly a plant level
), the full enclosure of the ground floor (which had previously been partially open to the elements) and the replacement of gold Venetian blinds which had been a feature of the building in the past.
The City of Perth moved back to Council House in February 1999 and placed three unused floors of Council House for lease. The refurbishment was widely considered a "qualified success", with the building "handsomely restored".
The Western Australian state election of 2001
had resulted in a change of government, including a change of Heritage Minister. The restored building was finally placed on the interim heritage list by Heritage Minister Michelle Roberts
on 5 March 2006. Former Heritage Minister Graham Kierath, who had resisted the nomination in the 1990s, attacked the decision to list the building as pandering to left-wing supporters. The Heritage Council of Western Australia recommended on 17 November 2006 that the listing of the building go ahead. The building was entered as a permanent entry on the Heritage Register on 8 December 2006.
Council House is constructed from concrete
-encased steel frame
, with lifts
and service rooms located at its eastern end and a fire escape stairwell at its western end. Level 9 houses the distinctive circular Council Chamber, which features wood panelling and has been restored to largely its original state in the 1990s refurbishment (by contrast to most of the other levels of the building). The building is almost completely clad with glass, which led to criticism about its excessive air conditioning
costs. The glass exterior of the building has T-shaped white sunbreakers superimposed in an alternating pattern across the building, coated with fine mosaic tiles. With the newly enclosed top floor, the building now has 13 levels above ground.
The building, which was the favourite creation of its designer Jeffrey Howlett, has been called the most important example of modernist architecture in Perth and "one of the State's modernist icons". The building has been described as demonstrating "modernist aspirations" from the Bauhaus
school, exuding "brutalist warmth". Stephen Neille, the Chair of Architectural Design at Curtin University
, described it as reflecting Perth of that time: a city "brimming with confidence and consciously promoting itself to the world as a modern city".
The building has divided the public over the years, with some branding the building an "eyesore" and a "hideous folly", whereas others considered it a "classic example of 1960s architecture and an important reminder of Perth's past" and a "unique building". It has been suggested by Associate Ralph Hoare from the Australian Institute of Architects said the building should never have been built on St Georges Terrace, having been built in the "wrong place".
lights which was officially turned on on 7 April 2010. The LEDs located on the roof, "T" window structures, and bulkheads are able to be individually computer controlled and coloured. The lights were installed at a cost of $1.08 million.
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
office building
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
set beside Stirling Gardens
Stirling Gardens
Stirling Gardens, also known as Supreme Court Gardens is a small public park in Perth, Western Australia. Known in some early records of Perth as 'Government Gardens' - they are 100 metres west of Government House....
on St Georges Terrace
St Georges Terrace, Perth
St Georges Terrace is the main street in the city of Perth, Western Australia. It runs parallel to the Swan River and forms the major arterial road through the central business district....
in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. The 47.9 metres (157.2 ft) building was designed by Howlett and Bailey Architects
Howlett and Bailey Architects
Howlett and Bailey Architects was founded by Jeffrey Howlett and Donald Bailey in 1960, in Perth, Western Australia. They received numerous design awards and commendations from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and won the Reserve Bank’s competition in Canberra in 1962. Their designs...
and opened by The Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
in 1963 after Perth hosted the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, Australia from 22 November-1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North Perth....
. For most of its history, it has served as the headquarters for the City of Perth
City of Perth
The City of Perth is a local government area and body, within the Perth Metropolitan Area, which is the capital of Western Australia. The local government body is commonly known as Perth City Council. The city covers the Perth central business district and surrounding suburbs...
.
Built in a modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
style, the building has been the subject of vigorous public debate about its heritage value. Some parties, such as the Royal Australian Institute of Architects
Royal Australian Institute of Architects
The Australian Institute of Architects is a professional body for architects in Australia. Until August 2008, the Institute traded as the "Royal Australian Institute of Architects", which remains its official name....
, consider the building to be an important example of modernist architecture in the city, whilst others consider it ugly. These conflicting views led to animosity in the 1990s, when the State Government
Government of Western Australia
The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1890, although it has been amended many times since then...
refused to heritage list the property, and instead recommended its demolition. Despite this, the City of Perth opted to renovate the tower and keep it as its headquarters. Following this, the building was admitted to the State's Heritage Register.
Prior site history
The site was originally home to the Colony's governing Legislative CouncilWestern Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...
in a building which came to be known as the Old Government Offices or Public Offices. The building was designed by Acting Civil Engineer Henry Reveley in August 1836 after he was asked to prepare plans for public offices on the site.
A call for tenders was made, and the tender accepted was for £1,833, well above the £1,200 maximum specified in the call for tenders. Payment was delayed until February 1839.
St Georges Terrace, Perth
St Georges Terrace is the main street in the city of Perth, Western Australia. It runs parallel to the Swan River and forms the major arterial road through the central business district....
. The Legislative Council occupied the building until 1870, when it moved to a chamber adjoining the new Perth Town Hall
Perth Town Hall
The Perth Town Hall, situated on the corner of Hay and Barrack streets, is the only convict-built town hall in Australia.Designed by Richard Roach Jewell and James Manning in the Victorian Free Gothic style, the hall was built by convicts and free men between 1868 and 1870...
. The Legislative Council returned to the building in 1890 after the newly formed Legislative Assembly
Western Australian Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....
took over that chamber.
In the 1890s, the building became a Post Office, before being taken over by the Department of Agriculture,
and the building continued to be used as public offices until 1961. Additions to the building in the 1930s included a second storey, which contained a Legislative Council room and offices for senior public servants. Showing its age, the building eventually became what was described as a "rat-infested hell-hole".
Immediately south of the Public Offices building stood the Soldiers' Institute building. This building was taken over from the Returned Soldiers' League by the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
in 1937 for its 6WF radio studio.
The Perth City Council
City of Perth
The City of Perth is a local government area and body, within the Perth Metropolitan Area, which is the capital of Western Australia. The local government body is commonly known as Perth City Council. The city covers the Perth central business district and surrounding suburbs...
had been based from 1871 in the Perth Town Hall
Perth Town Hall
The Perth Town Hall, situated on the corner of Hay and Barrack streets, is the only convict-built town hall in Australia.Designed by Richard Roach Jewell and James Manning in the Victorian Free Gothic style, the hall was built by convicts and free men between 1868 and 1870...
, then in 1925 moved to offices in Murray Street
Murray Street, Perth
Murray Street is one of four main east-west roads within the Perth central business district.The street, the central portion of which has become a pedestrian mall, was named after Sir George Murray, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1828 to 1830.It is the one main road in Perth that...
. The site of the Public Offices on St Georges Terrace was chosen as the site for a new home for the Perth City Council in 1954.
Competition and construction
With the news that Perth would be hosting the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, Australia from 22 November-1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North Perth....
, Perth City Council in 1959 launched an international competition to design its new building. The brief in the competition was to design a "creative building that marked where Perth was at the time" and have the building ready in time for the opening of the Commonwealth Games.
There were 61 designs entered into the competition, including one by Jeffrey Howlett and Don Bailey from the Melbourne architectural firm Bates, Smart and McCutcheon. The jury assessing the competition entries, which included architect Harry Seidler
Harry Seidler
Harry Seidler, AC OBE was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the Bauhaus in Australia.Harry Seidler designed more than 180 buildings and he...
, described the Howlett-Bailey plan as "a remarkably simple solution to a complex problem" and declared them winners of the competition.
The ABC moved to new premises on Adelaide Terrace in 1960 when the Council House site was taken over by the Perth City Council for construction to begin.
Both the Public Offices and Soldiers' Institute buildings were demolished to make way for the redevelopment.
Excavations for construction of the building's foundations started in October 1961 and the first concrete pour occurred in November 1961. The building was not completely finished by the time Perth hosted the Commonwealth Games in November 1962, however the builders rushed to finish the ground, eighth, and 10th floors in time so that foreign dignitaries could be entertained in the reception areas.
Following the Games, the fit-out of the building was finished in March 1963, and on 25 March 1963 Queen Elizabeth II officially opened Council House, unveiling a 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) tall ceremonial plaque set in granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
from the original 1817 Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The name of the bridge is in memory of the British victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Construction of Council House was performed by J. Hawkins and Son Pty Ltd, and cost £
Australian pound
The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 13 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. It was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.- Earlier Australian currencies :...
1.5 million.
It was the first building in Perth to use complete window walling. In order to reduce the heat entering the building through these full-height windows, the building used internal blinds and external sun-breakers.
When the building was opened, all Perth City Council activities were moved there.
Part of Howlett and Bailey's plans for the complex included the extension of Terrace Road westwards across the sites of the Old Court House and the Supreme Court, but this was never done. Also part of their plan was the construction of an elliptical auditorium called the "Public Suite" behind Council House; the plan to build this was dropped after the completion of Council House, with the design reformulated by Howlett and Bailey and the building eventually built on the opposite side of Government House as the Perth Concert Hall.
1990s refurbishment and Heritage listing
The building continued to serve as the headquarters for the Perth City Council from its completion until 1994, when it was vacated to allow for the removal of asbestosAsbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
which had been used to insulate the building's steel frame. The Council moved to office space in the Westralia Square building.
In 1994, Commissioners appointed by the State to oversee the break-up of the Perth City Council voted to demolish the building. At the time, refurbishment costs were estimated to run to $42 million. The State Government
Government of Western Australia
The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1890, although it has been amended many times since then...
's plan was to demolish the building and extend Stirling Gardens right across the site to beside Government House
Government House, Perth
Government House in Perth is the official residence of the governor of Western Australia and was built between 1859 and 1864. The buildings and gardens are listed on the Western Australian Register of Heritage Places and are open to the public from time to time.-Description:The building is a two...
, as part of a broader plan entitled "Perth - A City for People" which also included the Northbridge Tunnel
Graham Farmer Freeway
The Graham Farmer Freeway is a major part of the metropolitan road infrastructure in Perth, Western Australia. It is long and links Rivervale and East Perth with West Perth, bypassing Perth's central business district...
, the sinking of Riverside Drive, and the housing of Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Western Australia
The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters , and hears the most serious criminal matters.The Supreme Court consists of a General Division The Supreme Court of Western...
and District Court
District Court of Western Australia
The District Court of Western Australia is the intermediate court in Western Australia. The Perth Registry is located at 500 Hay Street, Perth. Other registries are located at Albany, Broome, Bunbury, Busselton, Carnarvon, Derby, Esperance, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Kununurra, and South...
under the one roof. The State Government suggested that the Council move in to the Old Treasury Building across St Georges Terrace, for which they offered an incentive of $30 million.
Significant public debate ensued about whether the building should be kept. Those prominent in the fight to save the building included Bill Warnock, architect Ken Adam, and the Royal Australian Institute of Architects
Royal Australian Institute of Architects
The Australian Institute of Architects is a professional body for architects in Australia. Until August 2008, the Institute traded as the "Royal Australian Institute of Architects", which remains its official name....
. Others said it was "out of date, unattractive, and out of step" with the older heritage buildings which surround it. Heritage Minister Graham Kierath also refused to place the building on the WA Register of Heritage Places, despite calls from the Heritage Council and the National Trust to do so. This decision "stunned" the Institute of Architects.
Despite the recommendation for demolition, in late 1995, the Councillors of the newly formed City of Perth had a feasibility study carried out into whether Council House could be refurbished. This feasibility study was carried out by Architects Cox Howlett and Bailey, of which one of the partners was the son of original designer Jeffrey Howlett, and cost $100,000. The study indicated that the building could be economically refurbished, and in December 1996 the Council unanimously agreed to press ahead with refurbishment plans, removing its asbestos and building an underground car park at the rear of the site. The decision to refurbish was helped by the fact that interest rates at the time were so low that it was cheaper to service a loan than to pay rent. At the time, the refurbishment was expected to cost around $26 million.
The new 95-bay car park at the rear of the building required the removal of a New Zealand Kauri Pine estimated to be up to 150 years old, and was described by Opposition MLC
Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council
Following are lists of members of the Western Australian Legislative Council:Prior to responsible government:*1832–1870*1870–1872*1872–1874*1874–1880*1880–1884*1884–1889*1889–1890*1890–1894After responsible government:...
John Cowdell as a "disgrace" which would undermine the heritage value of the precinct. There was also some concern expressed that the refurbishment might cause the building to lose heritage value through the updating of its interiors.
Janet Holmes à Court
Janet Holmes à Court, AC, HFAIB is an Australian businesswoman, and one of Australia's wealthiest women. She is the Chairman of one of Australia's largest private companies, Heytesbury Pty Ltd, having turned around its fortunes after the death of her husband Robert Holmes à Court in 1990...
, on 29 July 1997, at a price of $25,314,000. The architect for the refurbishment was Geoffrey Clough of Peter Hunt and Daryl Jackson Architects. The building was "stripped back to bare bones" and the tiny tiles coating the building's distinctive "T"-shaped fins were removed, repaired, and re-glued to the surface. The refurbishment also involved the construction of a new "Lord Mayoral space and reception area" on the eleventh floor (formerly a plant level
Mechanical floor
A mechanical floor, mechanical penthouse, or mechanical level is a storey of a high-rise building that is dedicated to mechanical and electronics equipment. "Mechanical" is the most commonly used term, but words such as utility, technical, service, and plant are also used...
), the full enclosure of the ground floor (which had previously been partially open to the elements) and the replacement of gold Venetian blinds which had been a feature of the building in the past.
The City of Perth moved back to Council House in February 1999 and placed three unused floors of Council House for lease. The refurbishment was widely considered a "qualified success", with the building "handsomely restored".
The Western Australian state election of 2001
Western Australian state election, 2001
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 10 February 2001 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council...
had resulted in a change of government, including a change of Heritage Minister. The restored building was finally placed on the interim heritage list by Heritage Minister Michelle Roberts
Michelle Roberts
Michelle Hopkins Roberts is an Australian politician. A member of the Australian Labor Party, she currently represents the Electoral district of Midland in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly....
on 5 March 2006. Former Heritage Minister Graham Kierath, who had resisted the nomination in the 1990s, attacked the decision to list the building as pandering to left-wing supporters. The Heritage Council of Western Australia recommended on 17 November 2006 that the listing of the building go ahead. The building was entered as a permanent entry on the Heritage Register on 8 December 2006.
Design and reaction
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
-encased steel frame
Steel frame
Steel frame usually refers to a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal -beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame...
, with lifts
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
and service rooms located at its eastern end and a fire escape stairwell at its western end. Level 9 houses the distinctive circular Council Chamber, which features wood panelling and has been restored to largely its original state in the 1990s refurbishment (by contrast to most of the other levels of the building). The building is almost completely clad with glass, which led to criticism about its excessive air conditioning
HVAC
HVAC refers to technology of indoor or automotive environmental comfort. HVAC system design is a major subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer...
costs. The glass exterior of the building has T-shaped white sunbreakers superimposed in an alternating pattern across the building, coated with fine mosaic tiles. With the newly enclosed top floor, the building now has 13 levels above ground.
The building, which was the favourite creation of its designer Jeffrey Howlett, has been called the most important example of modernist architecture in Perth and "one of the State's modernist icons". The building has been described as demonstrating "modernist aspirations" from the Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
school, exuding "brutalist warmth". Stephen Neille, the Chair of Architectural Design at Curtin University
Curtin University of Technology
Curtin University is an Australian university based in Perth, Western Australia, with additional campuses in regional Western Australia and at Miri , Sydney and Singapore...
, described it as reflecting Perth of that time: a city "brimming with confidence and consciously promoting itself to the world as a modern city".
The building has divided the public over the years, with some branding the building an "eyesore" and a "hideous folly", whereas others considered it a "classic example of 1960s architecture and an important reminder of Perth's past" and a "unique building". It has been suggested by Associate Ralph Hoare from the Australian Institute of Architects said the building should never have been built on St Georges Terrace, having been built in the "wrong place".
Building LED lighting
The outside of the building was fitted with over 22,000 LEDLEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
lights which was officially turned on on 7 April 2010. The LEDs located on the roof, "T" window structures, and bulkheads are able to be individually computer controlled and coloured. The lights were installed at a cost of $1.08 million.
External links
- Emporis page for the building
- SkyscraperPage page for the building
- Heritage Register of Western Australia entry
- State Library of Western AustraliaState Library of Western AustraliaThe State Library of Western Australia is located within the building known as the Alexander Library Building, in the Cultural Centre of Perth, Western Australia....
Pictorial Collection: