The Victorian planning minister Richard Wynne has taken the fate of Melbourne’s heritage-listed Shell House, designed by the late Harry Seilder, into his own hands after calling in a development application to constructed a new tower on the site of the existing northern plaza.
The proposed 33-storey tower designed by Ingehoven and Architectus would be taller than the existing Shell House and would require the partial demolition of the building.
Heritage Victoria refused the permit application in August 2021. The executive director of Heritage Victoria, Steven Avery said the demolition of the northern plaza “would permanently and irreversibly demolish original fabric and spaces, and would significantly diminish the legibility of Harry Seidler’s original concept and design of the place.”
The proposed tower “would dominate the north section of the place and almost entirely block views to the north elevation of the tower,” continued Avery, who considered the proposal to be “an overdevelopment of the heritage place.”
In September, the proponents requested a review of the executive director’s determinations. The minister informed Heritage Council of Victoria he would call in the application on 11 November and, as such, a scheduled Heritage Council hearing to review the determination has been cancelled.
A proposed second tower on the site of 1 Spring Street designed by Ingenhoven and Architectus.
The Australian Institute of Architects Victorian chapter took the unusual step to make an objection to the application, when it was advertised earlier in 2021, warning the construction of “a second tower on the site “would result in irreversible damage to a significant heritage place that actually helps define the high quality environment of Melbourne.”
The National Trust also objected to the application. “It would have an adverse and irreversible impact on the heritage significance of the place, and … this impact is not justified by the case for reasonable or economic use,” said Felicity Watson, the National Trust’s executive manager, advocacy.
Shell House was completed in 1989 and won the 1991 RAIA National Award for Commercial Architecture as well as a state award. It was added to the Victorian Heritage Register in 2017.
A proposed second tower on the site of 1 Spring Street designed by Ingenhoven and Architectus.
The proponents for the second tower claim that the site is “underdeveloped” and that a new tower is appropriate. However, the Institute argued that “The site is purposefully designed to have a tower sitting amongst two plazas, it does not consider an additional tower and was not envisaged as an underdevelopment of the site, rather it was considered as an appropriate development of all of the site in a holistic vision.”
The application also calls for demolition of a conference centre and theatrette on the lower floors. “The demolition of the theatrette, and other key workplace support spaces to the base of this building is a significant loss to the building’s design vision,” the Institute said. “The theatrette is beautifully designed space that reinforces the design of the approach of the building. It also has a number of signature Seidler design elements such as the curvaceous battened ceiling that link it to other Seidler theatre/auditorium projects of this period.”
A proposed second tower on the site of 1 Spring Street designed by Ingenhoven and Architectus.
“The new tower will result in the loss of the urban public plaza open to the sky, the loss of the reading of the sinuous geometric form and expressed stairs from the Street, the loss of the theatrette for both private and public use and, critically, the loss of the original design intent.”
The design of the proposed tower has been endorsed by a number of experts, including Greg Holman from Harry Seidler and Associates, architectural historian Philip Goad, and the Victorian Government Architect Design Review Panel.
However, the Institute and the National Trust both argue in separate submissions that support for the current design proposal is “irrelevant.”
“We believe that the correct question to be asked is not how the redevelopment should proceed, but whether it should proceed, with respect to the heritage values of the place, as protected under the Heritage Act 2017,” the National Trust said. “With due respect to the experts that have been consulted as part of this application, including the office of Harry Seidler and Associates, this commentary is therefore of limited value in relation to the fundamental question of whether the development is appropriate.”
The Institute said, “It is the Australian Institute of Architects’ opinion that, irrespective of the quality of the design outcome being proposed, no significant modification to this heritage listed project is appropriate.”
Victorian planning minister Richard Wynne told The Age, “Calling in the application means the heritage permit and development applications can be considered in tandem in a single forum. The Heritage Council will provide a report on the amended application that will inform the decision.”
Source: Architecture - architectureau
