Heritage Victoria has inducted a brutalist beauty – Geelong’s State Government Offices building – onto the state heritage register.
The six-storey building, located on the corner of Fenwick and Little Malop streets, is of the brutalist architectural style, constructed from robust materials like steel and reinforced concrete that are synonymous with the genre. The building form resembles an inverted pyramid, with the three lowest levels creating a podium and the upper three floors progressively cantilevered up and out to create deep overhangs. The facade is where most of the original structure and materials have been retained. Although the interior contains some exposed concrete features, there are few other historically significant elements.
Heritage Victoria’s decision to grant heritage status was motivated by a desire to further diversify the state register through the inclusion of more places and objects from 1970 onwards, which, at the time of writing, accounts for only one percent of items on the list.
Heritage Victoria indicates that the design for the State Government Offices was likely to have been finalised by the Public Works Department around mid-1975 and construction was completed by late 1978. Documentation for the building was carried out by the architectural firm Buchan, Laird and Buchan (later known as Buchan, Laird and Bawden) in association with engineers W. L. Meinhardt and Partners.
The office building was established to accommodate up to 700 public servants across 22 government departments and agencies, such as VicRail and the Public Trustee. Upon its completion, the building was nominated in the new building category of the Victorian chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects awards in 1979.
The decision to grant the building heritage status comes at a time when many other brutalist buildings across Australia have been refused heritage protection, resulting in many being altered beyond recognition or demolished. Others, such as the former Footscray Psychiatric Centre, have been included on the register following heated public campaigns, urging heritage institutions to preserve brutalist architecture.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
