Top Melbourne architect names city’s five iconic buildings

A weird hybrid city with the density of Hong Kong above the wide streets of a colonial town. That’s how a top architect has described Melbourne, as she reveals her favourite buildings in the city.

Victorian Government Architect Jill Garner.

Melbourne was challenged trying to manage its mixed identity as a high-rise Asian-style city built on colonial foundations, says the state’s top public architect.

Victorian Government Architect Jill Garner said that inner Melbourne was under great pressure due to rapid population growth and the proliferation of apartment towers over the last decade.

“It’s an incredibly interesting hybrid to have the density of Hong Kong with the slightly more low-key wider streets, lower-rise grid of our colonial city,” she told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“We haven’t quite sorted out how to do it, and I think that’s the challenge for Melbourne at the moment.”

“It’s not that we shouldn’t be doing it, but where is ‘Manhattan’, and where is our other city, and how do they link together?”

Ms Garner said that Melbourne’s liveability had benefited from long-term city council policies to make the CBD more people-friendly, and the fact that Melbourne and RMIT universities “bring kids that occupy the streets 24/7”.

Melbourne’s mixed identity poses a unique challenge. Picture: Jason Edwards

“What we need to make sure we don’t lose as we densify, is the beauty and the human scale, and the pride of people in our streets,” she said.

Ms Garner’s role is to provide advice and advocate to the state government on architecture and urban design.

Her favourite building is the National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda Rd because of its “fantastic civic presence”.

“It has a huge amount of community pride attached to it,” she said.

Other favourite structures include the 1960s-built State Government Offices in Macarthur St, East Melbourne, and the nation’s first skyscraper, ICI House in Nicholson St.

Jim Murphy during the construction of the ICI Building in East Melbourne in 1957. Picture: Lester Howard

Ms Garner said that the issue of Melbourne’s liveability went beyond the city centre — she is no fan of urban sprawl.

“We’ve just got to stop Melbourne growing because it brings with it that incredible problem of travel time, cars and roads — every road we build just gets filled with cars,” she said.

Ms Garner said that while the dream of owning a house was still strong for many people, a big shift was happening among youth.

“I see it in younger generations than me who are embracing a different type of home,” she said.

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“That different type of home has been in existence in Europe forever, I know so many people who grew up in apartments in Vienna or Berlin, and the idea of a home on block of land to those families, well, it just doesn’t happen in those places.”

“You just need people … in their 20s to go: ‘I don’t want to live in a house in Endeavour Hills or wherever on a block of land, I’m happy to be somewhere busy and tighter, and in a community of 20 other people.”

Ms Garner said it was a pity that higher density living found historically in places like St Kilda and Elwood had not been extended to other middle suburbs.

JILL GARNER’S TOP MELBOURNE BUILDINGS

National Gallery of Victoria, St Kilda Rd, by architect Roy Grounds

“It’s everything a great public building should be. Opened in 1968, it could have been built yesterday.”

The National Gallery of Victoria in Southbank.

State Government Offices, Macarthur St, East Melbourne by Yuncken Freeman

“The ensemble has just been named among Australia’s top 10 concrete buildings.”

The State Government Offices. Picture: John Gollings

The offices under construction: Picture: Pictures Collection Victorian Library

Former BHP House, 140 William St, by Yuncken Freeman

“This beautiful 1972 example of a steel and glass commercial building broke new ground with its open plan floorplates.”

Former BHP house in the CBD.

ICI House, Nicholson St by Bates Smart McCutcheon

“As the nation’s first international style skyscraper, it heralded a new era for the city and still stands as an incredible monument to contemporary design vision.”

ICI House was Australia’s first skyscraper.

The ICI building aglow at night in 1960.

Heide II, Bulleen by McGlashan Everist

“This extraordinary house/gallery provided a model for living in a landscape that seems so uniquely relevant to our way of life.”

Heide II, Bulleen by McGlashan Everist.

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@JMasanauskas