The Postal Hall is the grand space at the heart of Perth’s State Buildings complex. There are inherent programmatic requirements of the space; it is reconfigured regularly for large events, with all arrangements necessitating a readily accessible flexibility in use.
To address this, our ambition for the project was to redefine this civic gateway through the design of a centralised, demountable bookshop. Respecting existing alignments, the bookshop is conceived as a central hub in the hall’s atrium, creating a moment of pause within its generous context.
Designed as small scale, mobile elements and informed by ‘kite’ componentry, a series of independent modules connect to form the bookshop as a legible ensemble, with each module contributing to the necessary functional requirements of the space.
Its construction and material expression suggest permanence and temporality, a bookshop operating as a part of a commercial reality that is equally grounded in the public realm.
