ARM vs Modernist Heritage
I don’t like Ashton Raggart McDougall’s design philosophy. I can’t like every architecture firm’s work, and I’ll pay that their work is distinctive. I don’t mind if they get commissions to build freestanding buildings like the Melbourne Recital Centre.
What I really don’t like is Ashton Raggart McDougall being allowed to desecrate iconic modernist 80s architecture with their disrespectful, faddish refits. Melbourne was (I use the past tense) lucky to have one of the largest works of the eminent Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa – Melbourne Central. Melbourne Central now has giant multicolored spots spray painted on the side. And some kind of “playful” hoarding with the word “FLIP” on it in huge red letters. It’s B-grade postmodernism grafiitied onto a classic.
And now I see they’ve been awarded the commission for the refit of Roy Grounds’ masterpiece, the Melbourne Concert Hall (Hamer Hall). I think you would struggle to find a finer example of early 80s architecture in Australia than the Arts Centre precinct. The NGV refit (by Mario Bellini) was pretty sensitive, but sensitive is not really a word in ARM’s architectural vocabulary. Already the entire river facing promenade has been ripped from the building. The graphics on the hoardings show some twisted, curvy confection in its place. The site for the refit is here. If Melbourne Central is anything to go by, don’t expect any respect for Sir Roy Grounds’ vision.
If the Arts Centre was a Victorian terrace, there would be a rabid blue rinse set up in arms and interfering. But because we’re still negative about the 80s, there is barely a whisper in defense of our finest buildings from this period. Unfortunately, when we do come to appreciate them in years to come, they’ll have been defaced beyond recognition. Let’s hope the future likes ARM.
