Jury comment
Postal Hall is an installation within a heritage context that is very well done, particularly because it’s vulnerable in how it is viewed from all angles, including from above. The jury was impressed by its sustainability contribution, in being a demountable project that can easily be picked up, stored or relocated. Its minimal elements and refined elegant detailing make it punch above its weight, allowing both internal and external spaces to work well. The added fabric sails create a nice edge condition for seating within the public space and innovatively open up multiple choices for how people use the project, from perusing the retail offering to relaxing on the outer edge. It is sensitive to its context and sits seamlessly among the precinct’s other retail offerings.
Design statement
The Postal Hall is the grand space at the heart of Perth’s State Buildings complex. Informed by “kite” componentry, the design comprises a centralized, demountable bookshop. Its construction and expression suggest both permanence and temporality: a bookshop conceived as a central hub, grounded in the public realm.
The ambition of the project was to challenge the conventional thinking of a commercial bookshop. As part of the ongoing and ever-changing public realm in the post-pandemic era, it is no longer enough for an interior design solution to be solely a static visual artefact or simply a “flexible” solution. It must be agile, adaptable and intrinsically linked to its context to form part of an ongoing sustainable civic agenda.
By prioritizing the pedestrian experience, the design redefines this grand civic gateway. Respecting existing alignments, the bookshop is conceived as a central hub, creating a moment of pause to browse or sit within its generous context while also re-establishing a renewed sense of arrival.
Postal Hall is located in Perth on the land of the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation.
Project credits
Design practice — Trower Falvo Architects with Alessio Fini
Project team — Dayne Trower, Simona Falvo, Alessio Fini
The Award for Retail Design is supported by Laminex. The Australian Interior Design Awards are presented by the Design Institute of Australia and Artichoke magazine. For more images of this project, see the Australian Interior Design Awards gallery.
