Canberra
The proposed building was to be located at the gateway of Canberra’s civic precinct on Northbourne Avenue.
The 13,000 square metre building is a key operational and public interface centre for the Act Government, and as such the building has an important civic role to undertake.
Further, it has the opportunity to engage with the surrounding urban context, and to also identify itself as a gateway stanchion to the neighbouring Dickson village centre. The successful stitching of this site, the proposed light rail station, bus interchange and the neighbouring retail precinct is seen as being key to the success and acceptance of this project by the occupants and community alike.
Our solution achieves this outcome. We propose an appropriate building typography which is well integrated and engaged with the surrounding civic backdrop. It will provide the opportunity to create a world class work environment for the building users - a beautiful place to be. More importantly, the building provides leadership.
As a civic building, it looks to the future with a positive outlook. It does not shy away from the unknown, but radiates an assurance and sense of stability, logic and assurance.
Its environmental credentials are world leading, but it does not need to shout this accolade of today loudly, as it knows time and technology will develop, and its role is more as the flexible shell, able to adapt and allow for the new and the future.
In today’s world of financial and aesthetic constraint, the building design responds quietly and appropriately. It provides a financial solution driven to match the civic nature of the building’s use, with an understanding of the marketplace. But, time is an important factor. The building has an inherent quality that will allow it to age gracefully and develop a character through use, not deterioration.