25 March 2023
The new enlarged Melbourne Holocaust Museum in Selwyn Street Elsternwick looks finished, but it’s not open yet. Designed by Kerstin Thompson, I was surprised by the scale and flatness (and the sun was behind it), but being varied shades of white with some bricks in glass through which the sun was shining meant it wasn’t overbearing. It didn’t feel particularly welcoming and inviting though. The incorporation of the facade of the corner dance/meeting hall works; its not a building anymore but the outline of one, inscribed into a new wall; it’s become a ghost of itself, a faded memory – which is kind of fitting given the function. (However I wouldn’t like to see the idea repeated – the best policy is to keep a good depth of the building, not just a wall, with any new higher stuff well set back.)
14 March 2021
This nice #ArtsAndCrafts style building just off Glenhuntly Road caught my eye in 2019- it’s in a heritage precinct, but I never could find any details- possibly it was the ‘Dispensary Hall’ I found reference to in the 20s. Then it was announced the Holocaust Museum next door was building a big expansion, and it looked like it was going to be facaded, and yep that’s happened, to a design by @kerstin_thompson_architects – but I guess you could say since it’s being incorporated as flat walls in a larger composition all one colour, that it’s become a ghost of itself – which is kind of fitting given the function behind. Photos 2,3 @kerstin_thompson_architects
Storey of Melbourne 