A Woods Bagot-designed office building will form a key part of the Perth City Link precinct – an area that will reconnect Perth CBD and Northbridge.
The 14-storey King Street Campus building will occupy Lot 10, one of the parcels of land released by Development WA as part of the precinct transformation.
Perth City Link is an area of 13.5 hectares freed up by the sinking of the railway lines and bus station. It includes Yagan Square by Lyons Architecture with Iredale Pedersen Hook and Aspect Studios and a future Edith Cowan University campus.
Woods Bagot’s design is inspired by a historic lake and river ecosystem that was an important part of the Mooro people’s land, drawing on the river cliffs of that ancient ecology.
“The carving of the eastern and northern facades is where we see this most prominently,” the architects state in planning documents.
“The facades are broken up to create overhangs, under-hangs, stone faces, glimpses of timber and concrete-like materials, and planted landscapes.
“The voids on the eastern facade are generous and pull deeply into the floorplate.”
The building will accommodate 26,350 square metres of office floorspace, as well as food, beverage and retail tenancies fronting King and Roe streets, and a “wellness centre” and end-of-trip facilities for office workers fronting Jilli Path.
King Street Campus by Woods Bagot.
The main pedestrian access will be via a prominent, staired entry on King Street, oriented towards primary pedestrian flows from the Perth Busport and Perth Railway Station.
Designs were presented to Development WA’s design review panel on 3 March 2021. The panel praised the high levels of street activation and said the development was “on the correct path to achieving design excellence.” It did, however, raise concerns about the large expanses of limestone cladding at the lower levels, which could create a “harsh environment” before the landscaping matures.
In response, the design team said that the carved “cliff” under the plaza-level “outcrops” was one of the key design features.
“This carved component forms a solid foundation to the building, without impacting transparency. It also forms an aesthetically pleasing feature to screen the car-parking levels. The carved plane becomes a backdrop to the retail tenancies – allowing their fit-out to float in front of the double-height wall at the back of the tenancies.”
The design will be refined in consultation with the anchor tenant, who has not yet been revealed. The landscape architect is Plan E.
Public comments on the proposal are open until 6 May.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
