It is with regret that I must inform my readers that I am going on a holiday to America for 3 months, and since I will not be in Perth, this blog will have to take an extended hiatus. Possible american shots if you are lucky. But I will return, and it will be exciting trust me! some very exciting projects lined up for the future. so check back in october for fun times!

in the meanwhile why not peruse some of the lovely blogs listed to the right, or go visit some nice buildings! I suggest a walk in Floreat on a sunny afternoon.

mr blog.

First a rant, why doent the esplanade bus port look like this anymore????

where is our awesome winter garden!?!? oh golly, bring it back plz.

Also a request, sorry this a bit cheap, but I am desperate so,

I am looking for old copies of “the architect”, or transition magazine, or indeed any old w.a/australia architctural publication/info/items. Very good prices paid!

thanks.

THis is the John Curtin High School in Fremantle, designed by the Public Works Department in 1943, most likely in charge is Clare. Beautiful example of later art deco, and a nice example for Fremantle. Really strong lines and geometry, with a low and streching manual arts wing, that butts up to the 2 story vertical element, with a lovely canopy linking the 2 masses. Great entry statement, good to see its in a fairly decent state, very nice. Lovely signage as well!

So it is my great pleasure to introduce the first (of more i hope!) guest writers for the site. Adrian Iredale of IredalePedersonHook has been so kind as to write a little something about this project. So it is my extreme pleasure to post this now, from one of Perths most exciting and world class firms. It concerns the Swan St project in Mosman Park, featured earlier in construction on this site. These photos are from nearing the end of construction….

Project Description

The Swan Street Residence sits at the end of a mature tree lined street opposite a private girls school (St. Hildas). The narrowing of the street and the no-through road resulted in an initial desire to create a project that was concerned with notions of discovery and retreat. The wooded street and a previous completed project on the edge of the city of Perth provided an opportunity to connect with the contextual physical quality of ‘landscape’ and a sub-conscious connection to living on the edge of a city, the desire to be physically connected whilst offering qualities that exist in outer suburban areas, areas of natural landscape.

Green light and folding light filled spaces dominate the interior whilst externally the concern is more about formal connections to the existing house and the surrounding context whilst exploiting subtle and exaggerated differences.

Time

Time has a new quality in this project that is at times bombastic and at other times slow and subtle. From the copper capping that will slowly oxidise and drip green stains down the white picket fence, the Recycled Jarrah battens that have been oiled to slowly weather to contrast with the solidly sealed and stained plywood cladding panels, the native landscape that will react like the house to the changing weather patterns, the green light that shifts over the internal walls, filling the entry with an abstracted garden, the changing shadow patterns on the ceiling in the main bedroom and then the emitting of green light during the evening returning the landscape to the street…the deciduous tree that sits on the axis of Olivia’s bedroom window growing with her……..eventually these become a collection of moments that require and demand contemplation….a distraction to the everyday…a dream like quality typically reserved for holiday experiences or outback travels…

Movement

The additions fold and unfold, compress and release to create subtle internal relationships whilst capturing and configuring the exterior space. It maintains a dynamic equilibrium that responds to the activities of everyday living carefully connecting interior and exterior in a mutually beneficial manner. Space is held in the delicate balance of reality and abstraction.

iredale pedersen hook architects. 2008.

So there it is. Again many many thanks to Adrian and the rest at IPH.

so there was an architecture talk on last night, and i missed it! alas, i bet it was good as usual.  Also, i have been frightfully busy recently, and have not been able to upkeep, but no worry, it shall return, with content veritably sparkling! including the first ever guest blogger, and a VERY special guest that will be. stay tuned!

thaks to everyone so far that has visited, helped, given encouraging words etc, its what keeps this site going, along with the great designs that come from the state. 

till next time!

This picture was kindly sent in by Lazy Aussie, of Perths Worst. And worst this bus stop aint! Located in the hills, this a fantastic example if publci furniture design. So space age, yet translated into  cheap, readily available materials. Cheap, yet it still works, looks fantastic and totally cosmic.  I think what strikes me about this so much is imagination. It is a fantastic vision, a great little folly and excercise in testing design boundaries, yet it is easy to make and cheap.  Letting nothing get in the way of your vision. Unlike a lot of todays insipid and uninspired public furniture, this shows what you can do with imagination, creativity and an industrious mindset.  Think what you could do with the budget allocated these days. Public design that tests boundaries. Brilliant.

This is a grouped dwelling on Malcolm Street about to be demolished, and i think it is a great shame. These are beautiful little modern houses, in the vein of the ’sydney school’( for lack of a better descriptor) in the way they hug the site as it falls away towards the back, and the use of organic materials/colour choice. ie the proliferation of green paint, and also greenery in general. Great split level planning and generally very considerate and workable planning inside. Flexible. Each level has a large plane of glazing providing a great amount of natural light.  Clerestories to the top level are also an exellent addition. Very cute little modern excercise in small housing and tight planning. Although in a pretty awful state at the moment, it would not take much to make these excellent little houses again, and to retain some character within the street. Although i greatly admire the architects that are doing the thing thats replacing these houses, GresleyAbas architetects, I just really want these to stay. there are vacant blocks around,build on those! Anyways, these will be a great loss to West Austrlaian architecture. And i hate that. 

Sunny Mead, an apartment block in Mount Street Perth, was completed in 1961 and designed by the ubiquitous apartment design duo Krantz and Sheldon. It is a delightful multi storey building and curiously slim in profile. The stair well is attached to the side of the building and the use of angled glazing panels wondefully articulate the content to the exterior. The bulk of the structure is an intimidating mass of red brick with small windows regularly punched through. To the south west side are generous balconies with great use of industrial mesh/fencing as balustrades.  The entry is also a delightful feature with severe geometry articulating movement and a wonderful concrete canopy atretching out over the entry doors. Delightful.

This is the South Fremantle High School on Lefroy Road, done by CCN in 1967. It is a wonderful school complex with  a great set of buildings, that all work together and develop a very strong overall thematic style. I love the broken pediment buildings that stretch on, and the covered walkways, and rock gardens scattered around the place. The long uninterupted facades are both imposing and breath taking. Intense. The whole school develops a very brutal, dry outpost type of scenario. Beautiful. Photos from the library, and fritz kos.

This is the church of christ scientists sunday school next door to the older art deco place in the city. I love this building, it seems (i expect by accident) very Venturian in nature to me, very bizarre. Its form is exeptionally strong, brutal and completely uncomprimising. It gives the impression of a large and forceful building. But it is actually very small, and quite friendly in scale. Almost a touch of ‘I AM A MONUMENT!’. Both complex and condtradictory. ha! this is just high theory applied in hindsight, but it is still interesting, and I think a neccesary conversation when discussing this building. Other than that, it is a very nice, and well detailed late 60s modern/brutalist structure, with great use of high and low windows to create that floating illusion between both wall and roof. Wall and floor, and interestingly wall and column. Great. Unfortunately i do not know the author. But the old photo is Fritz Kos, from SLWA.