Space and Openness A Panel Conversation

An honour for Perth Design Week to partner with the State Library of Western Australia for 'Space and Openness" a panel conversation to celebrate 40 years of the Alexander Library Building.

Designed by Western Australian architects Cameron, Chisholm and Nicol, the Alexander Library building is part of a suite of architecturally significant Perth buildings from the 1970s and 1980s.

Moderated by Perth Design Week Chair and Co-Founder Sandy Anghie, the esteemed panel featured:

Tim Ross, writer and presenter
Gavin Broom, architect Cameron Chisholm Nicol
Katrina Chisholm, architect
Karen Jacobs, Managing Director / Chairperson of Indigenous Economic Solutions and Chairperson of The Whadjuck Foundation
Catherine Clark, CEO and State Librarian, State Library of Western Australia

The discussion began with welcome to country by Karen Jacobs and an acknowledgement of the site’s importance to Aboriginal people. Pre-settlement, traditional owners, the Whadjuk Noongar people, relied on the wetlands, freshwater springs and ochre pits that surround the area where the library stands. People gathered to share in the rich and diverse plant and animal resources, and practice their lore and cultural rituals.

Fast forward to the 1980s when planning commenced for the State Library. Catherine Clark described the need for a new library building, previously housed in the historic Hackett Hall. Gavin Broom painted a picture of what it was like to work at Cameron Chisholm Nicol at the time - acknowledging the many people involved, hand drawings with tracing paper and ink, building physical models, and the travel required to research (with no google back then).

At the time the Alexander Library building was constructed, the CEO at the time had planned for it to be fit for purpose in the 2000s, to accommodate a growing number of books 1.53 million – they thought they may have to build a tower for them! What we have seen is libraries evolving to be less about physical books. Karen Jacobs reflected on cultural spaces, while Catherine Clarke provided reflections on libraries of the future – as a place for creating content and not just accessing content.

While the Alexander Library building has been described as “brutalist” – others say it is modernist. The panel engaged in a robust discussion on both points of view. Tim Ross provided a history and his observations on the brutalist movement in architecture, while Katrina Chisholm shared her view that the building sits firmly in the modernist tradition of Cameron Chisholm Nicol's practice at the time. They all agreed on the importance of preserving our history and heritage.

Photos by Danica Zuks.