Letter to the editor: Rooms with a view

A letter published in The Mercury, 10 December, 2009.

Rooms with a view

Once again there’s a call for waterfront hotel accommodation with the Tourism Industry Council suggesting several sites (Mercury,   December 7).  It’s a shame 10 Murray St, with its waterfront views is overlooked.  This fine Hobart building has enormous potential but faces demolition.  I suggest the Tourism Industry Council’s Daniel Hanna has a chat with Sullivans Cove Waterfront Authority before it’s too late.  

Miles Shaman
Hobart

Australian Design Review article on 10 Murray Street

It’s not easy being a Brute
Paul Johnston
01.12.09

Paul Johnston explains why many believe the destruction of 10 Murray Street will be a tragic blow to the legacy of Australia’s modernist pioneers.

Stylistic attributes are never the best way to understand modern architecture. In Tasmania, where architectural influences are filtered by isolation and mixed with the rich context of landscape, modern architecture of the 1960s took on a rawness that expressed a cultural assurance and monumentality that has not been evident since. However, the label ‘brutalism’

is now used as a means of derision in the public sphere, to the detriment of architecture as a whole.

The proposal to demolish the State Offices at 10 Murray Street in Hobart recalls the long debate over the future of Council House in Perth, a battle that is now considered a benchmark in the defence of modern Australian architecture. The similarities are surprising, and this raises questions as to whether we have been able to engender any appreciation at all of modernism as cultural heritage. …

Read the article here: http://australiandesignreview.com/response/14678-It-s-not-easy-being-a-Brute

Letter to the editor: Architect’s rooftop garden among the stars

A letter published in The Mercury, 28 November, 2009.

Architect’s rooftop garden among the stars

Architect Dirk Bolt’s original concept for 10 Murray St included a rooftop garden and viewing platform. This was at a time when the Hobart waterfront was a working port with little to see or entertain. Perhaps Mr Bolt was being visionary.

The Sullivans Cove Waterfront Authority is considering the fate of 10 Murray St and may decide to have it replaced with a few pavers, a coffee shop and some ashtrays.

Imagine if, instead of the proposed Parliament Square, Hobart had a public rooftop garden from which to view the city, waterfront and mountain.

How about a rooftop choir in the Festival of Voices? I hope the authority shares Mr Bolt’s vision.

Sam Leishman
Hobart

Letter to the editor: Design masterstroke

A letter published in The Mercury, 10 November, 2009.

High-rise louvres a design masterstroke

When internationally renowned architect Harry Seidler attached angled sun hoods to his 44-storey Grosvenor Place in Sydney in the mid-1980s, it was considered a masterstroke of innovative design. The sun hoods significantly reduce glare and heat on the sides of the building that receive the most direct sunlight. This creates an internal space that is more comfortable to work in and adds to the energy efficiency of the building by reducing cooling costs. Energy efficiency is now a buzz term in contemporary design.

Next time you walk through Hobart, take a moment to look up at the north-west facade of the State Offices at 10 Murray St. Designed in the mid-1960s, it may be your last chance to see an equally effective sun-control system on a Hobart building. The angled louvres on 10 Murray St provide a simple but effective solution to shield the building from the afternoon sun. It’s a solution that pre-dates Harry’s innovation by 20 years and demonstrates a rare environmental consideration in a high-rise of this vintage. Call it brutalism if you must, but this well-planned, well-preserved, functional building is far from brutal.

This clever and environmentally kind representative of the 1960s’ modern, optimistic approach to design seems destined for the wrecker’s ball. Hobartians have until November 16 to make representations to the Sullivans Cove Waterfront Authority.

Sam Leishman
Hobart

Letter to the editor: Carbon costs not counted

A letter published in The Mercury, 2 November 2009.

Demolition carbon costs not counted

There are big environmental questions hanging over the proposed demolition of 10 Murray St that need to be asked. Have the proponents calculated the amount of carbon embodied in the existing building? All that concrete took lots of CO2 to make. Then there is the energy required to demolish the building and to dispose of the waste. In addition, there is the energy cost of extracting, producing and transporting the materials needed for replacement buildings. What has the Premier’s Climate Change Office got to say?

Roger Edgabaston
Lower Marshes

Letter to the editor: Delightful design

A letter published in The Mercury, 31 October 2009.

Murray Street offices a delightful design

The building causing such controversy at 10 Murray St is one of Hobart’s best-designed 1960s office buildings. Dirk Bolt, who played a big part in its design, was one of the most prolific and successful design architects of his time.

Bolt is a man of great integrity who inspired many Tasmanian contemporaries, like myself, by his ability at a time when Hobart was developing fast with many fine multi-storey office buildings, and others, being built. This building was a delightful place in which to work, on a very special site, with its column and beam grid, large windows, efficient air conditioning and lighting. For it to be described as “a very poor building” by a fly-in architect is inaccurate and insulting to a very talented architect. It should not be demolished.

Graeme Dean
South Hobart

Notification of Parliament Square planning & works applications

Text of advertisement in The Mercury from the Sullivans Cove Waterfront Authority, 31 October 2009:

APPLICATION FOR PLANNING PERMIT /
APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL TO CARRY OUT WORKS

Notice is given that an application for a planning permit under Section 57 of the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 and an application for heritage works approval under Section 32 of the Historic Cultural Heritage Act 1995 have been received by the Authority.

Location: “Parliament Square” – the land bound by Davey & Murray Streets and Salamanca Place and part of the rear of Parliament House, Hobart (lots 1 & 2 and part of lot 3 of Central Plan Register No. 8496)

Proposal: Demolition, mixed use development comprising offices, art & cultural centre, eating establishments & hotel (bar), civic square & car parking, building alterations & additions, road works and public urban space building, works & furniture.

These applications can be inspected at the Authority’s office at 5 Franklin Wharf, Hobart between 9 am and 5pm weekdays. Any person may make a representation in relation to an application by writing to the Chief Executive Officer at GPO Box 2114, Hobart 7001 or by emailing info@waterfront.tas.gov.au.
Representations should be received by 4pm, Monday 16 November 2009.

Hadley Sides
Chief Executive Officer

10 Murray Photo Essay

Click here to view a photo essay by Hobart photographer Thomas Ryan, including some recently added views of the interior.

The Mercury reports on the Save 10 Murray campaign

Letter to the editor: Demolition dud

A letter published in The Mercury, 24 October 2009.

Demolition dud

The people of Hobart, the State Government and Treasurer Michael Aird may not want to hear from a retired northern architect regarding the proposed demolition of 10 Murray St to make way for the city’s proposed new Parliament Square. Nonetheless, I consider it would be crazy to demolish it.

Architect for the proposed development, Richard Francis-Jones has said 10 Murray St is a “very poor building” (Mercury, October 21). From drawings exhibited depicting the new development, one could equally and reasonably conclude it will be a very poor square.

Most disturbing is the ineffectiveness of the Heritage Council. Its existence seems pointless.

Jim Dickenson
Exeter