Alexander Rayfield - Artefact by RMIT Architecture

Wal yal up Tow e r

Alex Rayfield RMIT University Major Project 2021 Supervisor: Graham Crist

Panel 1 Project Images 3 and Drawings Reference 47 Material

This is Walyalup Tower. Walyalup Tower is a subsidised housing scheme, located in Fremantle, Western Australia. The proposal comprises an apartment tower, woylie memorial, public plaza and roof treatment of an adjacent building. The proposal is born out of dissatisfaction with Fremantle, the site of first European contact on the western coast, in 1829. Present day Fremantle reveres in the folklore of early colonial hardship in its preserved 19th century city, whilst celebrating the success of this struggle in the working Fremantle port. Contemporary efforts to preserve and protect the city reflect an ongoing resonance with the colonial misconception of terra nullius, which legitimised settlements to the colonisers themselves. Tower is not an indigenous architecture, but an allied architecture. It is a provocation to the colonial city and its sympathisers, using form and sign that ‘breaks the fourth wall’, to address the city with a message in dissent to the norm. Architectural space is conceived of as loose and generic, with efforts made to ensure its climate sensitivity; public space is generous and lacks commercial program. Walyalup Tower is a testimony to the ever-presence of indigeneity in , and a nod to a future that reflects shifting understandings of the colonial city in Australia.

This is Walyalup not Fremantle

This is Walyalup Tower in its urban context, protruding high above the city. The tower can be seen from afar – it is a placemarker. It makes the statement, ‘this is walyaup’. Its presence is a provocation to the certainty of the colonial city as it challenges its very identity as Fremantle.

Walyalup is the place of the Woylie

This image is from the roundhouse prison, at the end of High Street. The view down the High Street axis has remained largely unchanged since the late 19th century–however that continuity is no more. Walyalup Tower, towers over Walyalup. The colonial monopoly over this territory is over, due to the presence of dissent.

Do we continue the European way?

The traditional way of understanding place is related to its ecology and how humans fit into a broader system – hence the name Walyalup. Walyalup means place of the woylie and reflects an understanding that this place is defined by its flora and fauna. The European way of understanding place is based on domination of nature and a populous. Jane Currie’s 1831 painting shows the colony just two years after it was established. We can see a a rigid settlement laid out with the Roundhouse Prison dominating the territory. Could this colonial hegemony be challenged?

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We must contest the colonial grid

This image shows the urban context of present day Fremantle. In red are significant buildings in relation to the grid and main axis of High Street. At the foot of the drawing is the roundhouse–at the top of the drawing is the town hall, church and Walyalup Tower. The grid ensures that views are curated as they become axial – protruding the tower so high means it breaks free of this constraint and can be viewed from unexpected angles and in relation to unexpected landmarks and places. It contests the power of the grid.

Occupying the spaces left

This drawing shows the proposal in its immediate context, laying out the general organisation of the tower, woylie and its relationship to its landscape and the grid. The tower has a small footprint, leaving a large portion of the site to be vegetated or left open for public use. The site has three entrances, which lead to the central space with the woylie memorial. This site was chosen as it is within a block, occupying back of house and car parking spaces, meaning the proposal does not contribute to sprawl or further degradation of land, whilst still delivering a new architecture.

S t J o h n ’s C h u r c h

F r e m a n t l e To w n Hall

Str igh

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A sign bigger than its building

This drawing is an elevation of the tower and the woylie. These buildings wrestle with the binary of the duck and the decorated shed in the way they carry meaning and address the viewer. The woylie takes on a non-normative form for a building, but relies heavily on text in line marking to assert its meaning, demonstrating how it is neither wholly duck or shed. The tower has applied sign, like a decorated shed, but its scale and depth allow it to totally dominate the façade. In an urban context that has been stripped of the subtlety of its precolonial condition, perhaps this brazen approach is the way to push back reassert the fact this is Walyalup not Fremantle.

A tower that touches stolen ground

The ground floor of the tower is raised 800mm, with native grasses, grass trees and eucalyptus surrounding. An axis is set up, directing views to the woylie. The mesh walkway keeps the user off the ground and allows a view to the ground, where a column can be seen landing. We can’t go back to precolonial conditions so we must move forward in a different way – perhaps it is about revegetating the groundplane where possible and highlighting moments building touches the stolen ground.

Shelter in the form of a Woylie

The woylie provides shelter to the public plaza, from the harsh sun. The woylie is a symbol for all that was here. It, like traditional practices and local ecology, has been removed since the European city was formed. It is a monument to the pre-colonial. Unlike a more traditional monument, the woylie is generously services the space, making the space more functional and useable. Text in line-marking breaks the fourth wall, addressing the user and stating that this is the place of the woylie.

What was here? What remains?

This image shows the woylie, with line marking drawing a path. The woylie memorial plays on the Australian phenomena of the ‘Big X’ – the big thing usually signals what a place is known for. Immortalising the woylie in a big version perhaps suggests this is what Fremantle is known for? Or rather what Fremantle was known for? Or importantly what Fremantle should be known for? It can be read as a challenge to the identity of Fremantle as a place known for its port and 19th century city.

Million dollar views fully subsidised

This is the roof of Johnson Court, the adjacent building, which is accessible to the general public via a lift or staircase on Adelaide Street. The roof space provides barbeques and seating opportunities, to gather and enjoy the ‘million dollar views’ looking towards the ocean. Why should such a sight be reserved for the wealthy? It should be subsidised, by the mining companies that benefit from mining on stolen lands.

Ground access, roof access

This is the lift to the roof, and the entrance to the ground level public plaza, off Adelaide Street. The lift core bounded by the same metal mesh as the woylie and Walyalup text, tying together a larger territory with a design language. This entrance has line markings that protrude from the site, drawing the inside of the site to the street. Unlike the continuous urban wall of surrounding buildings, this entrance steps back and invites the pedestrian inwards or upwards to public spaces.

A lobby-turn-veranda for the public

This plan of the ground floor of the tower, emphasises its cruciform layout that consolidates structure and services. The lobby is treated like the apartments with folding doors allowing it to be opened up when weather is favourable. Mesh walkways meet it and carry people from the street to the woylie. The walkway cuts the corner ensuring a user is aware they are passing through the building not around it, emphasising its public nature. It acts as a deep veranda space not an isolated lift-waiting-room.

A cool place for a yarn

This is the lobby in the afternoon, when shadows are long and the heat has subsided, it is the most pleasant part of the day perfect for a rambling conversation. It is a perfect place to sit and yarn – you might wander into this space from the plaza or off the street. You might come down from your apartment to feel closer to the ground.

The subsidised flat is loose

This is a plan of the top floor apartment. It shows the apartment unfurnished. The plan of the flat avoids being too prescriptive – vertical circulation and bathroom spaces divide the plan into four ‘rooms’ and a fifth, interstitial space. The plan is oriented with its long face with kitchen facilities facing north to take advantage of natural light where possible, and aid in shading.

The flat is occupied in a seasonal way

These drawings show the apartment when the doors are open in warmer months and closed in cooler months. The space is sealed with folding doors that can be left completely open, meaning the it can respond to changing temperature and humidity throughout the year – in times when weather is favourable (above) the doors are open and living occurs in an outdoor manner, avoiding the need for mechanical cooling – in times when it is cold or wet, doors can be closed and the space sealed for heating.

Light and airy: 32° at 8am

This image is of a dining table, placed near the kitchen. Summer heat is intense in Walyalup and it arrives early in the morning – breakfast outdoors is ideal and can be had in the flats of Walyalup tower. Doors fold back to open the space entirely, as a deep veranda.

Cooled by the doctor

This image is of a bedroom, with doors partially closed to control how breezy the space is. The Fremantle doctor is the sea breeze that comes like clockwork on a summers afternoon, around 3pm. It flushes out stuffy air and refreshes space. In the flat, doors can be partially closed to allow the breeze in a controlled manner.

The bathroom, a frame

This is an image of the shower in the bathroom, within the cruciform core. The bathroom frames a view beyond the floorplate of the tower. It is a cool, dark space that encourages a connection with what is outside. The space is contained, delivering the essentials and freeing up the rest of the floorplate to be occupied loosely.

Can everything be outside?

This space is the second largest in the flat, here it is a kids’ bedroom however it could be a living space, dining room, workshop or anything in between. The space is divided by furniture not a wall and the open doors place everything ‘outside’. It operates as a deep veranda, with connection to the view and elements outside, at the fore.

How many can live here?

This image is of central space of the apartment, with living room, bedroom space and panoramic view beyond. The design avoids being too prescriptive in what is a bedroom, living space, office or other space. The flat can accommodate swelling numbers throughout the year and can also function with only a few occupants. The flat is loose and open to the elements when possible.

How do we build on Wajuk country?

Line marking and swimmable waterbodies lead to the woylie. The tower surrounded by native flora. How do we build on Wajuk country in a way that stands in opposition to the hegemony of the colonial city? Walyalup Tower proposes a way to do so that frees space for public use and breaks the fourth wall in its messaging, to assert a position on the city. Its presence stands as a message of protest, but its spaces are generous in its offering.

This is Walyalup

This is Walyalup Tower from across the port. This is Walyalup, the place of the woylie. This project is not an indigenous architecture but an allied architecture – an architecture that seeks a third architecture, not colonial and not indigenous. It is not defined by the colonial city but rather a sense of what was here long before, whilst recognising there is a necessity to move forward and densify our urban environments for the future.

Reference Mat erial

Western Australian Constitution (1890)

70. There shall be payable to Her Majesty, in every year, out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund the sum of five thousand pounds mentioned in [DOCUMENT NINETEENTH PAGE ENDS HERE] Schedule C. To this Act to be appropriated to the welfare of the aboriginal natives, and expended in providing them with food and clothing when they would otherwise be destitute, in promoting the education of aboriginal children (including half-castes), and in assisting generally to promote the preservation and well-being of the aborigines. The said annual Constitution Act 1890 (UK) Page 19 of 29 sum shall be issued to the Aborigines Protection Board by the treasurer on warrants under the hand of the Governor, and may be expended by the said Board at their discretion, under the sole control of the Governor, anything in the Aborigines Protection Act, 1886, to the contrary notwithstanding. Provided always, that if and when the gross revenue of the colony shall exceed five hundred thousand pounds in any financial year, an amount equal to one per centum on such gross revenue shall, for the purposes of this section, be substituted for the said sum of five thousand pounds in and for the financial year next ensuing. If in any year the whole of the said annual sum shall not expended, the unexpended balance thereof shall be retained by the said Board, and expended in the manner and for the purposes aforesaid in any subsequent year.

Content–OMA

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Jenny Holzer

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Claes Oldenburg

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Peix Fish

Frank Gehry’s Peix Fish, is an art piece on the scale of a building. It is located on the marina in Barcelona and was constructed in 1992. It became an icon of post-Olympic Barcelona.

CHIAT/Day Offices

Frank Gehry and Claes Oldenburg collaborated on the Chiat/ Day Offices, located in LA, California. It is colloquially known as the ‘Binoculars Building’ and garnered international and canonical interest in the offices of an advertising agency.

The Barak Building

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Nationa l Museum of Australia

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Garden of Australian Dreams

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Nationa l Gallery Sculpture Garden

The Sculpture garden at the National gallery of Australia is a renowned piece of landscape design, designed by Harry Howard. The design seemingly used haphazard and asymmetrical planting and features to offset the brutal aesthetic of the modernist Gallery.

A l ex Rayfi e l d