Forrest Hall is Well Executed and Works Very Well on a Challenging Site

Forrest Hall defies classification by straddling a number of categories. However, it is clearly an architecture award winner.

The ground level provides a public plaza with a visual link to the river and a legible entry point to the buildings. The landscape at ground floor level, with its sunken ground plane and eucalyptus trees, provides natural light and visual connection between the ground plane and lower entries.

The plaza divides the programme into separate wings for the scholars and the academics. The social functions in the scholars wing are grouped around a raised cloister, evoking the academic character of the typology, evoking the Oxbridge model of the original and early campus setting and architecture.

The second stage builds on the language of the first and refines the architecture. Well-designed scholars’ apartments on the upper levels have their own individual balcony and view of the Swan River. The apartments are screened from the traffic on Mounts Bay Road through the use of permeable masonry and green walls. This approach has also been used to enable views and amenity to the majority of the short stay accommodation rooms in the academics’ wing.

The building is well executed and works very well on a challenging site.The material palate is earthy and markedly Western Australian.From the client’s perspective the completed precinct is a successful reflection of the collaboration between the University of Western Australia, the Forrest Research Foundation, the Minderoo Foundation and architects. The final outcome is a collection of well-crafted buildings which sit comfortably on the edge of the Swan River.