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STATE THEATRE CENTRE

Rudolf Wentzel In June 2005 the Minister for Culture and the Arts Sheila McHale launched a competition for the design of a new performing arts venue, the first to be built in Perth in over 30 years. Kerry Hill Architects were awarded the contract after winning a two stage design competition in which panellists debated the merits of over 40 entries submitted by local and international firms. The site of the new Theatre Centre was to be the corner of William and Roe Streets in Northbridge, in the Perth Cultural Centre. Architects were given the challenge of designing a building that was clearly a landmark for the Cultural Centre while respecting the historic corner treatments and the William Street streetscape. The project was seen from the beginning as an integral part of a wider plan to revitalise the Perth Cultural Centre. The competition brief called for two adjacent theatre halls, but the architects chose to take a risk and stack the two halls on top of each other instead. The result was two theatre spaces each with a separate mood bestowed by distinct material choices. The larger, upstairs theatre seats 575 people while the basement blackbox

theatre seats 200. The main theatre is essentially a timber-clad cylinder nestled inside a square concrete box, while the basement theatre exhibits a clearly industrial theme that presents a welcome contrast to the more grandiose upstairs. Stacking the halls also freed up space for a third, multifunction outdoor performing space that was intended for less formal productions for those not so familiar with the theatre experience. The grand staircase through which the main theatre is approached is an integral part of the design. The stairs are surrounded on both sides by glittering bronze tubes, which can be seen from Roe Street. Cascading down from the ceiling are a mass of aluminium tubes that serve to reflect the gold light washing down from above. A dampalon-clad fly tower that floats gently above and behind the solid block of the main theatre responds to the landmark stipulation in the brief. The fly tower glows as an incandescent and minimal lantern.1 The two storey heritage 'Chester' building is paid its respects in the william st. elevation, the theatre maintaining the height and setbacks of the original structures.

The choice of materials is central to our design process...Our desire for exactitude is fundamental.

The massing of the structure embodies general 'modernist' design principals, with the separate spatial volumes cutting and notching into each other, slightly overlapping to give the design a close-knit intensity. There is a purity to the expression of form and materials: soft concrete for the main theatre containment, translucent dampalon for the flytower, matte black for the rest of the structure and dark red bricks that continue down to the 'underground' theatre. It is this nuanced materiality that Kerry Hill has become known for2. The idea of orthogonal lines continuing for infinity is present and alluded to on one of the early conceptual drawings. Modernist influence should come as no surprise from a firm that calls itself the vanguard of pan-Asian tropical modernism.3 It is on the surface difficult to place the Theatre Centre within the architectural canon of a Singapore based firm (the Fremantle office liaisons with the Singapore studio) that specialises in holiday resorts. However delving deeper into some of these projects it becomes apparent that the treatment of materials and the elegant adornment of otherwise bare surfaces weaves through as common threads. The choice of materials is central to our design process.4 Writes Kerry Hill. A hierarchy usually exists within Ar House, Kuala Lumpur the composition of materials for each project. How these materials are connected is informed by one material paying respect to another. Our desire for exactitude is fundamental. What jumps first to mind when making the inevitable comparison between the State Theatre Building and the TAFE building also on william street is that in the face of the
1 Philip Goldswain, Centrestage,Architecture Australia 95 (2006): 25 2 Robert Powell, Nuanced Materiality, The Architectural Review 212 (2002): 82 3 John Wiley, Kerry Hill Architects, Architectural Design 77 (2007): 120 4 President's Design Award, 2010, http://www.designsingapore.org/pda_public/gallery.aspx?sid=755

postmodern agglomeration that is the central TAFE, the theatre building seems positively polite. Not content to simply continue the william street elevation, it gently pays homage to it with its own reinterpretation of the veranda. Perhaps owing to the traditional roots of theatre as artform, the building seems content to embrace a more reserved contemporariness. The gold cylinders and timber elements project class and sophistication without extending into the realm of the kitsch. From the beginning, the brief charged the designers with creating a civic space5, an ambitious task for a mere theatre. Strategies to encourage full activation of the Centre are a priority. reads the brief. The Theatre Centre was to be a place where the citizens of Perth came to express their creativity and be impressed by that of others. It was to attract families and city workers who want to spend time there [and] be a place where they can be stimulated and inspired by a constantly changing array of activities and experiences. The building was also required to be sustainable by virtue of its flexibility, by providing adaptible spaces that can accommodate multiple uses and reasonable activity changes over time. The theatre itself was clearly designed in concert with the theatrical community. The wood panelling lining the theatre was toned down at the behest of the artists so as not to detract from the play, and the design was modified to enable extra service access to the backstage for ease of set transportation. Engagement with the wider community on a day to day basis does not seem apparent, however, when visiting the Centre. If community consultation was undertaken, it doesn't show. The central courtyard seems clinical and soulless. The public simply has no reason to venture there. The whole space is taken up by black walls and columns, floored in brown pavers. There is not a single bollard for posting community acts or local events, not a message board, no drink fountain or water feature. In fact it is hard to imagine a space less welcoming to the public. If inviting buskers, bands or local acts into the space was too much of an undertaking, then some public benches could at least have been provided. Trees and plants are also conspicuously absent. The courtyard needs to work as urban space as much as a performance space.6 Writes Phill Goldswain in Architecture Australia. To this end, the decision not to install a mature jacaranda in the courtyard may be rued.
5 Revitalising The Perth Cultural Centre, 2005, http://www.centrestagedesigncomp.dca.wa.gov.au/StageOneVision.asp 6 Philip Goldswain, State Theatre Centre By Kerry Hill Architects,Architecture Australia 100 (2011)

As an urban space, the Theatre Centre fails. It is hard to have a civic space when the most basic prerequisite of civic space, that there be some pedestrian flow, is not met. There is no adjacent cafe, no spilling over of any nearby activities into the central space as was hoped by the designers. This is perhaps the fault of events outside the control of the architects. The building shines, on the other hand, as a purpose built venue. The drama and spectacle of the theatre experience is consciously focused and intensified. Underground theatre at the venue is literally underground. The anticipation of a masterful performance is skilfully accentuated by the journey up the staircase. Kerry Hill Architects have succeeded in capturing the sophistication we expect from theatre, producing a contemporary building that is elegant without being excessive, that is cultured yet not kitsch.

Bibliography
Goldswain, Philip. Centrestage,Architecture Australia 95 (2006): 25-28 Goldswain, Philip. State Theatre Centre By Kerry Hill Architects,Architecture Australia 100 (2011) Powell, Robert. Nuanced Materiality, The Architectural Review 212 (2002): 82 Wiley, John. Kerry Hill Architects, Architectural Design 77 (2007): 120 President's Design Award, 2010, http://www.designsingapore.org/pda_public/gallery.aspx?sid=755 Revitalising The Perth Cultural Centre, 2005, http://www.centrestagedesigncomp.dca.wa.gov.au/StageOneVision.asp

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