Once voted Geelong’s ugliest building (I think) Ive always always liked this one, the 1978-9 #GeelongStateOffices, or rather always been impressed by the chutzpah to actually come up with it and build it – and it was the State Government ! Guess they wanted to make a splash. Plus the Victorian #PublicWorksDepartment was totally into #Brutalism from the mid 70s into the early 80s, though this is more about structure than chunky, rough concrete forms, intact the structure seems a bit light, it’s like ‘how does it stay up?’. They were clearly inspired by the #GeiselLibrary, completed 9 years before, much more complex and the structure much more dominant.
#GeelongStateOffices, 1979, Victorian #PublicWorksDepartment, with the new dome/globe of the #GeelongLibrary by #AshtonRaggattMcDougall beyond. Great contrast – one skeletal, upside down, severe, the other smooth, enclosed, bound to the earth. An intentional dialog actually, ARM architect Ian McDougall said : re the state offices “It’s a bit of a lost child. It needs to come into the family of the street. We felt the library needed to balance the upside-down building and work with it.” Geelong-ites you’ve got some great stuff here !
Storey of Melbourne 