FINDING THE WAY

Looking for a new ‘wayfinding’ system for the Perth Cultural Centre (PCC), the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA) of Western Australia has launched a competition asking architecture and design students and recent graduates to enter their design solutions.

Open to interdisciplinary teams of up to four people, students and graduates are asked to submit their designs for wayfinding activity nodes around the city of Perth that will “not only guide visitors to where they are going, but shows them where we have been, through the stories and art of the Whadjuk Noongar [the traditional owners of the land] who have come before us,” claims the MRA.

The MRA, who are tasked with breathing new life into Perth through urban renewal and placemaking, are looking for a fresh take and new ideas for building a sense of community with lively places for people to engage.

With a wealth of cultural institutions in one zone, the Perth Cultural Centre is at the centre of state’s cultural and artistic heart. With buildings like the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia and the State Library, as well as the new Museum for Western Australia, which is due to open in 2020, the PCC is an important landmark in the city.

The competition design brief states:

Designs should be underpinned by Whadjuk Noongar Boodja Kaartdijin (Whadjuk Noongar understandings of place). 

Designs are required to:

• Welcome visitors to Whadjuk Boodja and the Perth Cultural Centre by day and by night
• Help visitors find their way through the Cultural Centre and to neighbouring places
• Explore the place through the institution's geographic locations and the stories of the Whadjuk places that came before them
• Activate their immediate surroundings
• Incorporate Whadjuk artwork

Designs can include digital and printed media, including maps, symbols, text, images, sound and light.

It is hoped the resulting signage system will help make the connection between the various institutions within the PCC more visually and thematically cohesive.

Entries will be judged by a jury that will consist of Karen Jacobs (representative of the Whadjuk Working Party), Fred Chaney (founding principal of Chaney Architecture), Lara Mackintosh (principal of Viridis Architecture), a representative of the PCC, and the chair of the MRA, Richard Muirhead.

Submissions for the competition are due on 24 April. Judges will develop a shortlist, then the winner will be announced on 30 June. All entries will be publicly exhibited.

The winning team will receive a $4000 prize. Shortlisted entrants will receive $500.

To find out how to enter CLICK HERE