Lovell Chen is preparing a conservation plan for Melbourne's
ICI House, an exemplar of the Corporate International Style, and Australia's tallest building between 1958 and 1961.

ICI commissioned Bates Smart & McCutcheon (BSM) to design its new Melbourne headquarters in 1955. The architect's response to the prominent site at the east end of the city's 'Hoddle Grid' was a fully-glazed 19-storey office tower (230ft / 70m) raised on pilotis, with a discrete service tower to the north. The publicly-accessible landscaped gardens to the north and south were part of a trade-off arrangement with the planning authorities that allowed ICI House to break Melbourne's height limit, which had been 132ft (40.3m) since 1916.

From the outset of the fast-tracked construction process ICI House was a critical and popular success. On 11th December 1958, the day of the official opening, the Herald reported that, "Probably no other building since the Exhibition Building in 1879 has captured Melbourne's imagination as much".

In March 1990, ICI House became the first modern office building in Melbourne to be included on the Historic Buildings Register (now the Victorian Heritage Register). In 2005, it was included in the National Heritage List.

[ photos: Wolfgang Sievers, National Library of Australia ]

Remnants of Old Melbourne Gaol dating to the 1860s have been discovered during works on the Graduate School of Business (GSB) in Building 13 at RMIT University.

The GSB, designed by Lovell Chen, is within Emily McPherson College, a neoclassical structure completed in 1926. The site previously formed the northeast corner of the Melbourne Gaol complex. A number of gaol structures, including the Panopticon tower and the 'pie slice' radial enclosures of the men's exercise yard, were removed to accommodate the College.

Despite the removal of building materials from the site during the 1920s, the foundations and footings of these and other structures have survived. Archaeological consultant Geoff Hewitt is making a record of the findings, as well sifting through the contents of a refuse pile.

The adaptation of the College to the GSB involves the reconfiguration of the rear to include a glazed 'street' at ground level, with lecture theatres above and below. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2009.

See May 2006 news for pictures of Emily McPherson College, and March 2008 news for more on the new Graduate School of Business.

Pictured is an aerial view of Old Melbourne Gaol in 1922 — the site of Emily McPherson College is in the bottom right-hand corner. The other image shows the archaeological remains of the radial enclosures.

[ archive photo: State Library of Victoria ]

[ contemporary photo: Anne-Marie Treweeke ]

We are working on the conservation and refurbishment
of the Grainger Museum, Melbourne.

The unusual, essentially neoclassical structure is both a memorial to its founder, composer and pianist Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961), and a repository for his diverse collection of compositions, recordings and artifacts.

The museum was designed by John S Gawler, with input from Grainger himself, and built in two stages. The original single-storey brick pavilion with glass clerestory windows and a hipped roof was completed in 1935. Curved wings projecting at angles from either side were added in 1938, creating a segmental courtyard space at the rear.

The new works include additions to the east gallery, and modifications to the landscaping to create a new rear courtyard café and a comprehensive upgrade of services.

Completion is expected towards the end of 2009.

Pictured are a perspective drawing of the museum as it appeared in 1935 and the newly proposed landscape design.

[ landscape rendering: Oculus Landscape Architecture & Urban Design ]

Unbuilt architectural schemes proposed for Melbourne
over the past 50 years form the subject of a new walking tour organized by the National Design Centre (NDC). Accompanying recordings are available in the form of an iPod, available from the NDC.

Lovell Chen's Conrad Hamann is one of 13 speakers invited to describe the context and form of concepts that never materialized. Hamann's subject is the spire at the Performing Arts Centre, designed by Roy Grounds in 1960. It was proposed that the sculptural shell of the ornamental spire would be composed of melted down copper coins contributed by members of the community.

Other unbuilt visions on the tour include the transformation of Bourke Street into a multi-level mall by Robin Boyd and Frederick Romberg (1964); the Bridge of Houses by American architect Steven Holl (1979-82); and the Western shard at Federation Square by LAB Architecture Studio (1996).

Further information: Tel. +61 (0)3 9654 6335 ... www.nationaldesigncentre.com

Pictured is a poster calling for contributions for the spire project.

[ courtesy: Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria ]