14 August 2013

The Lodge on the Lake Design exhibition at the Gallery of Australian Design

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Tomorrow twenty six of the 242 entries into UC’s The Lodge on the Lake Design Ideas Competition will be on display in a new exhibition at the Gallery of Australian Design.

The Lodge on the Lake Design Ideas Competition was a Centenary of Canberra initiative by the University and the Gallery of Australian Design, which invited Australian designers to submit their ideas for a brand new official residence for the prime minister at Attunga Point on the south bank of Lake Burley Griffin.

The exhibition features a number of models including of the winning design by Jack Davies and team members Nicholas Roberts and Henry Stephens and the third-placed design by Monica Earl and Mr Moore.
Ms Pegrum said the competition had been a resounding success.

“The primary purpose of the competition was to start a national conversation around the need for a new prime minister’s residence. Design solutions were sought that would spark the national imagination and stimulate debate throughout Australia – and the entries we’ve received have certainly done this,” she said.

“The overwhelming response to the competition, with 242 designs submitted, is a clear demonstration that Australians appreciate the significance of the official residence of the prime minister and its symbolic role in Australian design and culture.

“While there are no plans at this time for a new residence, the competition jury noted that the current Lodge is extremely unsatisfactory and that there is an obvious need for a new development that suited the work and the standing of the Prime Minister and that also evoked Australian lifestyles and values.”

Also on show will be the second place-winning design by Alan Pert and team members from Nord architecture/landscape firm (Brian McGinlay, Helen-Anne Love, Mark Bell and Rod Kemsley) and Atelier 10 environmental /structures firm as well as Canberra designer Narendra Kaley’s commended entry

Check out our previous story on the competition for info about the winners.

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HiddenDragon said :

The third small image at the top is clearly a mistake – people wearing those sorts of colours would never be permitted in a building which looks likes this – PC beigists only, thank you!

Whose to say what people will be wearing in 300yrs… the earliest this thing would ever be built.

Gungahlin Al said :

Well I love it. Some extra shading over the glass to stop any summer sun hitting it (irrespective of double or triple glazing) would reduce running costs a lot. But the overall mix of cantilevering and water views is beautiful.

And with that comment, I’m suddenly very glad you didn’t get elected.

Gungahlin Al1:43 pm 15 Aug 13

Well I love it. Some extra shading over the glass to stop any summer sun hitting it (irrespective of double or triple glazing) would reduce running costs a lot. But the overall mix of cantilevering and water views is beautiful.

HiddenDragon1:20 pm 15 Aug 13

The third small image at the top is clearly a mistake – people wearing those sorts of colours would never be permitted in a building which looks likes this – PC beigists only, thank you!

If black, brown and grey were the only naturally occurring colours in the Australian, or even the local, landscape, this degree of glum, cold, unwelcoming misery might be justified, but it is not so.

Until we can come up with something which won’t make much of the rest of Australia cringe and shake their heads, let’s just stick with the current quirky, poky residence on Adelaide Avenue.

Wow, if the only available image of, presumably, an entry is anything to go by I seriously dread the rest. Honestly, there is a house in Ainslie that looks just like it. Every time I drive past I can only think about The Thunderbirds … Seriously, that’s an entry … A, however remote, potential future Lodge?

And further: “competition jury noted that the current Lodge is extremely unsatisfactory and that there is an obvious need for a new development that suited the work and the standing of the Prime Minister and that also evoked Australian lifestyles and values” … Can someone update us about how the lodge is so crap, it couldn’t possible be renovated to a more appropriate standard? What is wrong with the lodge precisely? Doesn’t scream ‘more money than taste’ loud enough. Is there no games room?

Maybe someone should advise the US that the White House needs a total, uglyfying overhaul as well.
Given it’s about 150 years older than the Lodge. Urgh. End rant.

If it’s not too late JB – perhaps this could be one of the questions that you put forward for candidates (ie would you support (and legislate for) the construction of the new lodge to start by say 2017.

A start date of 2017 (or even 2020) would be one or two terms away so it would look less like an incumbent PM was feathering their own nest.

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