LOVELL CHEN - Architects & Heritage Consultants

November/December 2011

HISTORIC NAVIGATION AIDS
Port Philip Bay, Victoria

Various types of navigation infrastructure have been constructed in Port Phillip Bay since early settlement. A number of challenges face the Masters of ships wishing to reach the Port of Melbourne — passing through 'The Rip' at the head of the bay and navigating the shipping lanes are among them.

Lovell Chen has prepared conservation management plans for three very different historic aids to navigation: Point Lonsdale Lighthouse, West Channel Pile Light and Port Melbourne Leading Lights.

The present concrete lighthouse at Point Lonsdale (above) dates from 1902 and is the main structure in a complex that includes the Fog Signal Shed (c.1914), the Foghorn Building (c.1960s), Point Lonsdale Jetty (c.1890), a Signal Station, searchlight emplacements and various other structures.

A welcome sight to vessels of all sizes, the 70ft high lighthouse is a visual reference for navigation of the dangerous entrance to Port Phillip Bay, which is narrow and subject to extreme tidal conditions. Its design is thought to be based largely on plans drawn up by civil engineers John Monash (later Sir John Monash) and Joshua Anderson, though the early Monier system of reinforced concrete construction they proposed may not have been used.

Quite different in form but similar in use is the
West Channel Pile Light (shown at left), completed in 1881 and still operational as a navigation beacon. It is sited off the coast of St Leonards on the the Bellarine Peninsula, marking the West Channel shipping lane, one of two major channels in the bay. Constructed on a roughly octagonal cluster of vertical and diagonal turpentine timber piles, capped with a timber platform overlaid with concrete, the Light has a distinctive shape provided by its single-storey decagonal former light keeper's quarters. An upper timber-framed tower supports the lantern. The form and fabric of the superstructure are relatively unaltered, which is unusual.

Much closer to port is the pair of Leading Lights (shown below) located between Station and Princes Piers, one in the shallows 115m offshore and one on land at the northern end of Beacon Vista. They date from 1924 and indicate the location of the Port Melbourne Channel. Both are largely unaltered. The landward concrete beacon is some 26m high and still in use. The smaller seaward one a tapering timber structure on piles, clad in galvanised sheets has been decommissioned, its functions replaced by a nearby steel pile light. The two lights are approximately 500m apart.

[ photos: Point Lonsdale Lighthouse and Port Melbourne Leading Lights: Lovell Chen ]
[ photo: West Channel Plie Light: State Library of Victoria ]

INTERPRETATION AT PRINCES PIER
Interpretation integral to design of new urban space

The Lovell Chen-designed interpretation panels for the newly re-opened Princes Pier project in Port Melbourne have now been installed. They tell the story of the pier's history and close association with migrant arrivals and military departures, and they explain the significance of the various historic features that can be seen on the pier.

Developed in association with historian Jill Barnard, the panels are part of a wider heritage presentation scheme that includes many aspects of the design of Melbourne's newest public urban space. We also designed the wayfinding signage.

Elements of the scheme include a kiosk housing screens providing access to digitised material (developed by others), seating made of reclaimed timbers from the pier structure which now bear the names of vessels that docked at Princes Pier, and a specially commissioned installation by Stephen Hennessy that provides the pier's identity. The reverse of Hennessey's pillars gave us an opportunity to display an historic image that captures the romantic aspect of long-distance departure locations.

Princes Pier is a development by Major Projects Victoria. It opened to the public on 12th December. We provided architecture, restoration and conservation services, as well as interpretation design.

[ photos: Lovell Chen ]

LEGACIES OF KINGSTON'S INDUSTRIAL PAST
Former Power House, Kingston, Canberra

Lovell Chen has prepared strategic heritage advice to inform a masterplan for the development of the area around the former Power House at Kingston, Canberra.

The Kingston Power House (now Canberra Glassworks) was one of the first buildings constructed at Canberra following the decision to select the Limestone Plains as the setting for the national capital. The location of the Power House was not anticipated (or supported) by Walter Burley Griffin, winner of the competition for the plan of the new city. It was determined by proximity to sources of water (the Molonglo River) and coal (the anticipated rail line from Queanbeyan).

The presence of the Power House determined the nature of development at Kingston, which evolved as an industrial and government services suburb. However, redevelopment since the 1990s has seen its transformation to a residential suburb. The Power House (pictured under construction and complete), the adjacent Fitters Workshop and the former Transport Depot are the primary remnants of industrial Kingston, and survive as islands within a highly urbanised environment.

The heritage strategy seeks to guide the development of the area as an arts precinct having regard to the historic significance of the surviving buildings, the former railway alignment and plantings dating to the 1920s.

[ photo: Power House under construction 1913, National Archives of Australia ]

[ photo: Power House and rail siding 1926, National Archives of Australia ]

ST MARY OF THE CROSS SQUARE
Australian Catholic University campus, Fitzroy

As part of the Australian Catholic University's ongoing development of their campus in Fitzroy in central Melbourne, a new National Centre for Health and Wellness is being constructed behind its main building on Victoria Parade. Adjacent to this on an undeveloped site fronting Brunswick Street, the university proposes to create landscaped open space — St Mary of the Cross Square. The site is within the South Fitzroy Heritage Overlay Precinct and Lovell Chen provided heritage advice in relation to the proposed square.

Mary MacKillop (St Mary of the Cross) is the only Australian recognised by the Catholic Church as a saint. Coincidentally, she was born at 9 Brunswick Street, almost opposite the proposed square, although the actual building is now gone. The univeristy plans to incorporate a statue of St Mary of the Cross and interpretation material in the square, acknowledging the historical associations of the area.

THE ENCYLOPEDIA OF AUSTRALIAN ARCHITECTURE
Comprehensive reference book is launched in Melbourne

Lovell Chen is very pleased to announce the publication of The Encyclopedia
of Australian Architecture, edited by Philip Goad and Julie Willis and
published by Cambridge University Press.

Five years in the making, and involving more than 200 contributors and 1,000 entries, the encyclopedia provides engaging, accessible and comprehensive coverage of Australian architecture and architects. Lovell Chen was a principal donor to the project.

Speaking at the launch, held at Museum of Victoria on 16 November 2011, Professor Graeme Davison described the publication as "scholarly pluralism", reflecting the high quality of the content and the effect of bringing all periods and styles of Australian architecture into one publication. Davison is one of Australia's foremost historians and editor of The Oxford Companion to Australian History. Architect and TV presenter Peter Maddison also spoke.

The book's editors are distinguished figures in the architectural profession. Philip Goad is Director of the Melbourne School od Design and Chair of the faculty of Architecture, The University of Melbourne. Julie Willis is an associate professor at the faculty. Together they skilfully marshalled the efforts of contributors from all over the country.

The encyclopedia is the first major reference text to be published on the subject. Its editorial advisory board included Lovell Chen senior associate, historian Conrad Hamman. The project was supported by the faculty of Architecture, The University of Melbourne, and the other principal donor was Equiset.

REPUBLISHED: BOYD'S VICTORIAN MODERN
Robin Boyd Foundation reprint

In October, the Robin Boyd Foundation in Melbourne republished Robin Boyd's landmark first book, Victorian Modern: one hundred and eleven years of modern architecture in Victoria, Australia — first published in 1947. Its republication marks the fortieth anniversary of the influential architect's death.

Victorian Modern examines the history and development of architectural design in Victoria and proposes an approach for the future, using the idea of the "Victorian type" — a well-designed and affordable modern home.

The book is significant for its identification and documentation of the importance of architects such as Desbrowe-Annear, Robert Haddon and Walter Burley-Griffon. Boyd felt their work represented the qualities he thought should be the basis for housing in the decade to come. Their responses to materiality, landscape, place and lifestyle still resonate with designers today.

Designed by Boyd and illustrated with contemporary photographs and his own sketches, Victorian Modern has a distrinctive look, displaying its author's graphic skills and love of typography.

www.robinboyd.org.uk

Lovell Chen was a major supporter of the project
to republish Victorian Modern.

Feature ... Robin Boyd: a short biography

CONFERENCE PAPER :
CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
International Conference on Heritage Conservation 2011

The International Conference on Heritage Conservation is organised by the government of Hong Kong and its focus is on heritage conservation as an integral part of sustainable development. Lovell Chen director Peter Lovell presented a paper in the afternoon session of Monday 12th December.

In the paper, entitled, The Challenge of Adaptive Reuse: heritage in the danger zone, Peter Lovell discusses the extent to which the fundamental willingness in Australia to accommodate intervention and changes in the adaptation of heritage places for reuse, may have moved beyond the point where the act of conserving is purposeful. He presents a number of case studies, ranging from comprehensive adaptation to skin-deep façade retention, and explores the possibility that Melbourne is in danger of becoming a city of heritage wallpaper.

International Conference on Heritage Conservation:
Conservation and Development - Partners or Rivals?
12th-13th December 2011, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
www.heritageconference2011.hk