IDENTITY OF PERTH

journal article

2014, PERTH’S CRISIS OF IDENTITY
INFLECTION JOURNAL NO.1, MELBOURNE SCHOOL OF DESIGN

Perth – City of Defined Perspective Montage updated
1894, 1940, 2014, 2020

In order to write into the city, you need to read the city. The city is like the formation of clouds, it is a complex system interdependent with myriads of layers and causes susceptible to an everchanging condition. Like the ship of Theseus that had each and every one of its wooden parts replaced, this begs the question of whether a particular city remains exactly the same city if its composition is everchanging. Not just by identifying the desires and fears of the city, an analysis of the present character of the city is required to formulate attractors, mathematically defined as a set of physical properties toward which a system tends to evolve to. The city of Perth now in a state of inflection, is in a dire need of such prescription to avoid itself becoming and growing into a Melbourne.

With the methods of urban collective memory collages, this article suggests a framework of change and self-determination that preserves and propels the character and identity of the city.

OBELISK OF APOLOGY

ideas competition entry for public space

2020, SYDNEY PUBLIC SPACE IDEAS COMPETITION
https://sydney.org.au/psic/entry/avenue-of-reconciliation/

Reconciling the settlement of Australia at Macquarie Place

It should be noted that this project is speculative of nature and it is of open invitation to First Nations community to discuss merits of the project.

The Macquarie Obelisk marks the s pot of the British flag from the First Fleet that signifies the beginning of British settlement of Australia. While controversial, the obelisk itself lies quietly amidst rapid development since.

The idea here is to demarcate this space for a national apology. As Avenue of Reconciliation, Loftus Street and Bridge Street, the earliest streets of Sydney are pedestrianised from the hustle and bustle of cars and given civic importance. Paved Loftus Street aligns the axis from Sydney Cove towards the obelisk and the circle of fire, and Bridge Street re-laid with timber planks connecting the archaeological Government House.

The existing obelisk is rehoused with a new structure, with steps leading up; taller than any skyscrapers of the city, now the Obelisk of Apology, not to glorify the historical act, but for one to climb up to apologize, and to be made aware all nation’s towering progress is due to this regretful historical moment.

The Fire of Remembrance ritualizes the act of burning smoke before the obelisk, and to respect the land. The Tank Stream is to be made visible again, carved as water canal on the ground towards the cove, to reestablish the relationship of the stream with the city.

This reclamation of historical space, the Avenue of Reconciliation, Fire of Remembrance and Obelisk of Apology demands not just acknowledgement of the civic importance of this place, but to begin a new chapter of collective memory, of reconciliation, apology and perhaps forgiveness.

Lest we forget.