The following formal submission have been made public
Submitter: Penleigh BoydNew Southern Entrance
The National Capital Authority has to assess whether a proposal to alter a place of national significance is consistent with the National Capital Plan. Conformity to the National Capital Plan entails, amongst other things, the protection and management of the heritage values of the nation.
There is no question that the Australian War Memorial is a place of national significance. The National Capital Authority must ask itself, in what way is the Australian War Memorial significant?
Significance is a concept that has been widely used in heritage work for the last fifty years. There is now a science to what the community once inherently knew - whether an item was culturally significant. Usually community appreciation of the significance of an item, a building for example, comes with time. It is rare for something new to become immediately significant (the Sydney Opera House being a rare example however one could argue that its public gestation was so long that people had grown to love it even prior to completion). It should be noted that memories are an academically recognised attribute towards an item’s acknowledged “significance”.
An intrinsic part of significance is thus public appreciation. Public appreciation can also be expressed as “sentimental attachment” or memories. Public appreciation (or sentimental attachment) comes with the passage of time - the public knowing and experiencing an item of significance for years and even decades.
The southern entrance to the Australian War Memorial is etched in the mind of almost every visitor to Canberra. Countless postcards, calendars, tourist snapshots circulate Australia wide showing Australians our Australian War Memorial. Even Australians who have never been to Canberra know the memorial by its iconic presence at the end of the Anzac Parade vista.
Main Works Package 1 New South Entrance will destroy this well loved iconic view and entry to the memorial. It’s heritage will be diminished, sullied, altered and discarded by it not being the serene entry it once was.
If the National Capital Authority approve this proposed drastic change to the southern entry they will have failed to understand or appreciate the sentimental attachment and memories Australians have formed, over the years, with the Australian War Memorial as they know it.
Surely it doesn’t need to be explained that heritage preservation is preserving what people love. Not changing it.
The New Southern Entry fails to conserve and enhance the significance of the Australian War Memorial and, on that ground alone, the proposal should be rejected.
The National Capital Authority has to assess whether a proposal to alter a place of national significance is consistent with the National Capital Plan. Conformity to the National Capital Plan entails, amongst other things, the protection and management of the heritage values of the nation and proper respect for Australian national life and values.
As protector of the national symbolic role that Canberra plays for all Australians, the National Capital Authority should instruct the Australian War Memorial to revise its design. A new design should arise through a proper Australia wide community consultation process.
There is no question that the Australian War Memorial is a place of national significance. The National Capital Authority must ask itself, in what way is the Australian War Memorial significant?
Significance is a concept that has been widely used in heritage work for the last fifty years. There is now a science to what the community once inherently knew - whether an item was culturally significant. Usually community appreciation of the significance of an item, a building for example, comes with time. It is rare for something new to become immediately significant (the Sydney Opera House being a rare example however one could argue that its public gestation was so long that people had grown to love it even prior to completion). It should be noted that memories are an academically recognised attribute towards an item’s acknowledged “significance”.
An intrinsic part of significance is thus public appreciation. Public appreciation can also be expressed as “sentimental attachment” or memories. Public appreciation (or sentimental attachment) comes with the passage of time - the public knowing and experiencing an item of significance for years and even decades.
The southern entrance to the Australian War Memorial is etched in the mind of almost every visitor to Canberra. Countless postcards, calendars, tourist snapshots circulate Australia wide showing Australians our Australian War Memorial. Even Australians who have never been to Canberra know the memorial by its iconic presence at the end of the Anzac Parade vista.
Main Works Package 1 New South Entrance will destroy this well loved iconic view and entry to the memorial. It’s heritage will be diminished, sullied, altered and discarded by it not being the serene entry it once was.
If the National Capital Authority approve this proposed drastic change to the southern entry they will have failed to understand or appreciate the sentimental attachment and memories Australians have formed, over the years, with the Australian War Memorial as they know it.
Surely it doesn’t need to be explained that heritage preservation is preserving what people love. Not changing it.
The New Southern Entry fails to conserve and enhance the significance of the Australian War Memorial and, on that ground alone, the proposal should be rejected.
The National Capital Authority has to assess whether a proposal to alter a place of national significance is consistent with the National Capital Plan. Conformity to the National Capital Plan entails, amongst other things, the protection and management of the heritage values of the nation and proper respect for Australian national life and values.
As protector of the national symbolic role that Canberra plays for all Australians, the National Capital Authority should instruct the Australian War Memorial to revise its design. A new design should arise through a proper Australia wide community consultation process.
Bean Building Extension and Central Energy Plant
The National Capital Authority has to assess whether a proposal to alter a place of national significance is consistent with the National Capital Plan. Conformity to the National Capital Plan entails, amongst other things, the protection and management of the heritage values of the nation and proper respect for Australian national life and values.
What on earth does a Ned Kelly helmet have to do with the role of Canberra being the symbol of Australian national life and values? Glenrowan, yes; Canberra, no.
Sidney Nolan has helped etch this iconic “slot opening in a cylinder” symbol into every Australian’s mind. You can’t escape it.
To use it on the Bean Building Extension design - really? The architects have to be joking! Is the Australian War Memorial also going along with this ironic symbol? What on earth does a Ned Kelly helmet have to do with the Bean Building and administration of the Australian War Memorial?
The proposed Bean Building Extension fails to enhance (in fact diminishes) the significance of the Australian War Memorial and, on that ground, elements of the proposed design should be rejected.
The National Capital Authority should instruct the Australian War Memorial to revise its design for the Bean Building Extension.
What on earth does a Ned Kelly helmet have to do with the role of Canberra being the symbol of Australian national life and values? Glenrowan, yes; Canberra, no.
Sidney Nolan has helped etch this iconic “slot opening in a cylinder” symbol into every Australian’s mind. You can’t escape it.
To use it on the Bean Building Extension design - really? The architects have to be joking! Is the Australian War Memorial also going along with this ironic symbol? What on earth does a Ned Kelly helmet have to do with the Bean Building and administration of the Australian War Memorial?
The proposed Bean Building Extension fails to enhance (in fact diminishes) the significance of the Australian War Memorial and, on that ground, elements of the proposed design should be rejected.
The National Capital Authority should instruct the Australian War Memorial to revise its design for the Bean Building Extension.
Anzac Hall and Glazed Link
The National Capital Authority has to assess whether a proposal to alter a place of national significance is consistent with the National Capital Plan. Conformity to the National Capital Plan entails, amongst other things, the protection and management of the heritage values of the nation.
There is no question that the Australian War Memorial is a place of national significance. The National Capital Authority must ask itself, in what way is the Australian War Memorial significant? They must note too that the 2001 Anzac Hall (now demolished with National Capital Authority approval) won the 2005 Canberra Medal and the AIA Sir Zelman Cowen award awarded to public buildings for their design excellence.
An intrinsic part of “significance” is public appreciation. Winning a national design award from a national architectural institution would have to be one of the highest public appreciation accolades that a building can get.
Therefore, how does diminishing the heritage value of the Australian War Memorial building achieve the National Capital Authority’s brief to safeguard the National Capital’s heritage? It doesn’t.
Only when and if the replacement Anzac Hall wins the Sir Zelman Cowen award will the works now proposed equal the previous Anzac Hall - let alone surpass it.
Until that day, the Australian War Memorial’s significance and heritage values have been diminished. National Capital Authority, your job was not done.
Furthermore the Australian War Memorial, through its grandiose expansion involving demolition of a building only twenty years old, tells all Australians that it lacks sensitivity and has money to burn. The National Capital Authority has the role of promoting Canberra as the symbol of Australian national life and values.
In whose name does the National Capital Authority endorse such values as those now displayed by the Australian War Memorial?
There is no question that the Australian War Memorial is a place of national significance. The National Capital Authority must ask itself, in what way is the Australian War Memorial significant? They must note too that the 2001 Anzac Hall (now demolished with National Capital Authority approval) won the 2005 Canberra Medal and the AIA Sir Zelman Cowen award awarded to public buildings for their design excellence.
An intrinsic part of “significance” is public appreciation. Winning a national design award from a national architectural institution would have to be one of the highest public appreciation accolades that a building can get.
Therefore, how does diminishing the heritage value of the Australian War Memorial building achieve the National Capital Authority’s brief to safeguard the National Capital’s heritage? It doesn’t.
Only when and if the replacement Anzac Hall wins the Sir Zelman Cowen award will the works now proposed equal the previous Anzac Hall - let alone surpass it.
Until that day, the Australian War Memorial’s significance and heritage values have been diminished. National Capital Authority, your job was not done.
Furthermore the Australian War Memorial, through its grandiose expansion involving demolition of a building only twenty years old, tells all Australians that it lacks sensitivity and has money to burn. The National Capital Authority has the role of promoting Canberra as the symbol of Australian national life and values.
In whose name does the National Capital Authority endorse such values as those now displayed by the Australian War Memorial?