Geoff Warn believes change is inevitable, it is just a matter of when.
Geoff Warn believes change is inevitable, it is just a matter of when.
The director of Donaldson + Warn Architects has become a leading protagonist for change in a passionate ideological feud with a city council concerned over the fate of the Treasury Building, arguably Perth’s foremost heritage precinct.
The City of Perth convened a special council meeting last week to restate its unanimous opposition to the state government’s proposed development of a mixed-use building in the centre of the site, bordered by Hay Street, Barrack Street and St Georges Terrace.
Mr Warn said the council has not embraced the opportunity to make an architectural statement that reflected the city’s modern culture.
“Perth is pretty conservative by international standards,” Mr Warn told WA Business News.
“The City of Perth could team up with the state government and breathe new life into this city.”
Mr Warn believes Perth is about to enter its next evolutionary phase as a result of strong current economic conditions. Such growth periods, he says, often revitalise a city and inject an element of sophistication to architecture.
The state government commissioned Donaldson + Warn, Melbourne-based architect Peter Elliot, and Perth architects Sandover Pinder and Palassis Architects to produce a design for a building which would provide up to 15,000 square metres of office space to house the Treasury and the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
A further 2,000sq m was required for commercial and retail purposes through the ground floor of the project, to restore the site as a public space.
City of Perth Lord Mayor Peter Nattrass said in a statement the council believed the new building was totally out of character in bulk, form, scale and location and showed no respect to the adjacent historical buildings.
However, he said council supported the upgrading and re-activation of the disused old Treasury Building, but suggested the Central Perth Planning Committee rethink its development options.
Government architect Professor Geoffrey London said the design was not complete, but in its current form it was certainly not the “looming monster” some people made it out to be.
“When the building is eventually viewed, it’s not going to be overpowering. In reality. you won’t see the building in its entirety, you will only get glimpses or a series of fragments,” Professor London told WA Business News.
He said the design provided terrific new public spaces that would activate the precinct beyond 5pm, allowing people to move through the space to visit shops, bars and cafes.
The government also envisaged converting the basement area of the Treasury Building into a jazz bar, he said.
Woods Bagot director and architect Ross Donaldson said decision makers needed the confidence to place good and beautiful buildings of this time, adjacent to, and around these structures.
“I think its wrong to say in a situation like this that the only right solution would be to design something that sat comfortably next to older buildings; why should it be about comfort?” Mr Donaldson said.
He pointed to Europe and its cultural history and tradition, saying while they certainly valued their heritage, they did not allow the critical parts of it to be compromised.
“They’re much more relaxed and confident about contemporary expression sitting alongside the traditional,” Mr Donaldson said.
Architect and urban planner Ken Adams warned the city could not afford to take risks on the project.
He suggested the government change its brief to remove at least two floors to reduce the scale of the proposed development.
“Another floor or two off the top will make no difference because the project doesn’t provide a return to government. No private developer would even touch it,” Mr Adams said.
Department of Housing and Works project development manager Peter Gillies said the project was still in the hands of the Central Perth Planning Committee, which was continuing its investigation.
“I think we need to talk to the city of Perth openly. Council shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the government has requirements and priorities too,” Mr Gillies said.
