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Docomomo Australia

Administration (ADM) Power

Like any other modern nation Australia has used architecture to define its institutions that are symbolic of power and government. As a relatively young nation, Australia has particularly drawn on the evolving language of Modernism to define such institutions in the 20th century.

The youngest building included in the Australian selection is the national Parliament House, (1980-88). Although arguably built at the end of the Modernist period, the design sits within a late Modern idiom and is the most significant and awarded civic building in Australia since the Sydney Opera House. The extensive building and landscaping forms a centre-piece in the national capital plan of Canberra and is symbolic of the Australian democratic system.

Canberra has many other significant modern buildings of power, but the High Court and National Gallery of Australia is singled out as another very significant civic group. The precinct exemplifies Australia’s explorations into the late-Modern brutalist language.

The Warringah Council Civic Centre in suburban Sydney is also representative of the late-Modern brutalist language that preceded the High Court and was adopted for a number of urban, civic centres and community buildings.

With the large size of the country, Australian states and their capital cities have always played an important role in the governing of the nation. This sense of distance from the centre of national power is particularly felt in Western Australia, where the capital city of Perth is the site of judicial, political and administrative power for 1/3 of the country. Dumas House in Perth has been selected as representative of the extent of this state government administration. The prominent post-war tower, overlooking the city, displays climatic inflection of the international commercial modern idiom.

Of course not all significant sites of civic power are confined to city and suburban settings. A number of notable modern local government and administrative complexes were built in regional centres in the mid-20th century, and Warracknabeal Town Hall stands out as a fine example of a Dudok-inspired town hall in country Victoria.

(Editor working party: Associate Professor Hannah Lewi)

Warringah Council | 1970-73 | NSW

May 30, 2017 by DA

current name of the building: read more...

Posted in: Register Australia, Administration (ADM) Power, NSW Register Tagged: 1970s, Admin, Docomomo Fiche, Edwards Madigan Torzillo & Briggs, Scott Robertson, Sydney

National Gallery and High Court of Australia Precinct | 1972-1982 | ACT

May 21, 2017 by DA

National Gallery and High read more...

Posted in: Register Australia, ACT Register, Administration (ADM) Power Tagged: 1970s, 1980s, Admin (ADM), Briggs, Canberra, Edwards, Madigan, Torzillo

Dumas House | 1961-65 | WA

May 10, 2017 by DA

Current name of the building: read more...

Posted in: WA Register, Administration (ADM) Power, Register Australia Tagged: 1960s, Admin (ADM), Docomomo Fiche, Finn van Mens, Fritz Kos, Perth, WA, WA Public Works Department

Council House | 1962-4 | WA

March 6, 2017 by DA

COUNCIL HOUSE St George's read more...

Posted in: International Fiches, Administration (ADM) Power, Early Fiches, Register Australia, WA Register Tagged: Docomomo Fiche, Hewlett & Bailey Architects, Perth, WA

Becker House / Australian Academy of Science | 1956-9 | ACT

September 6, 2016 by DA

Becker House / Academy of read more...

Posted in: Register Australia, ACT Register, Administration (ADM) Power Tagged: ACT, ADM, Roy Grounds

Cameron Offices | 1968-1977 | ACT

August 8, 2016 by DA

Cameron Offices 1968-1977, read more...

Posted in: Register Australia, ACT Register, Administration (ADM) Power Tagged: Admin (ADM), Cameron Offices, Canberra, Docomomo Fiche, John Andrews

Toorak-South Yarra Library | 1972 | VIC

May 4, 2014 by DA

ph. Federico Passi, 2016

Posted in: Register Australia, Administration (ADM) Power, Victoria Register Tagged: 1970s, VicHeritage, Victoria, Wolfgang Sievers, Yuncken Freeman

State Government Offices | 1962-70 | VIC

April 30, 2014 by DA

Posted in: Administration (ADM) Power, Register Australia, Victoria Register Tagged: 1960s, Victoria, Wolfgang Sievers, Yuncken Freeman

Brighton Municipal offices | 1959-60 | VIC

April 30, 2014 by DA

Posted in: Administration (ADM) Power, Register Australia, Victoria Register Tagged: 1950s, Oakley & Parkes, VicHeritage, Victoria

Warracknabeal Town Hall | 1939-40 | VIC

April 30, 2014 by DA

Posted in: Administration (ADM) Power, Register Australia, Victoria Register Tagged: 1930s, 1940s, Admin, Docomomo Fiche, Seabrook and Fildes, VicHeritage, Victoria

St Kilda Public Library | 1969 | VIC

April 30, 2014 by DA

ST KILDA PUBLIC read more...

Posted in: Administration (ADM) Power, Register Australia, Victoria Register Tagged: 1960s, Enrico Taglietti, Library, Melbourne, Victoria

Academy of Science | 1958 | ACT

March 6, 2011 by DA

Australian National read more...

Posted in: International Fiches, ACT Register, Administration (ADM) Power, Early Fiches Tagged: Docomomo Fiche

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