First published in The Architect Journal – Autumn 2015

PERTH CULTURAL CENTRE: URBAN LIFE LABORATORY

When considering Perth over the last ten years, the Perth Cultural Centre can be seen as a test bed for urban revitalisation strategies in Western Australia; a desolate place blighted by the over-scaled ‘build it and they will come’ strategies of the 80s and 90s mall culture. The James Street precinct had big institutional destinations and heritage buildings steeped in history, but nothing to connect them together. The Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority¹ (MRA), operating as a well resourced pair of garden shears for red tape, rendered the Cultural Centre a ground of architectural experimentation. Architects, landscape architects, artists, placemakers and events organisers were commissioned to ‘revitalise’ the space with temporary and short term projects, bringing to mind Rem Koolhaas’² project Exodus, or Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture by way of Cedric Price’s Fun Palace – a space dedicated to pop culture and mass consumption; the strut that Robert Hughes found lacking in the Modern metropolis³. Part of this revitalisation effort was the installation of a large public screen, and during Architecture Week 2014, films made by architects, artists and students from around the world were shown as part of the inaugural Urban Screening. Continue reading “PERTH CULTURAL CENTRE: URBAN LIFE LABORATORY” →