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From :
@uwa_design
Summer Exhibition 2025
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ZOE NEWMAN (
@zoeenewman /
@zn.architecture )
‘Glass Commons: Recasting Halvorsen Hall’
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for ARCT5201 Detailed Design Studio 1
‘Deep Time: A Palimpsest of Place’
coordinated by Marcus Ormandy Brett (
@marcusormandy )
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‘Halvorsen Hall sits vacant in the south-west corner of Robertson Park. Originally built for the Perth City Band, it became an artist’s studio in 2000. Since 2023, it has remained empty, its future uncertain, risking slow deterioration without intervention. Glass Commons is an adaptive reuse project that reimagines Halvorsen Hall and its parkland as a site of ecological restoration and community reconnection. The proposal combines an artist’s glass-blowing studio with a glass recycling centre, reinstating the site’s long-standing role as a place of meeting and making.
Robertson Park sits on land once part of Perth’s seasonal wetlands, holding deep Indigenous significance as a meeting ground and source of life. Over time, the Park has experienced numerous transformations, lending itself as the perfect site for adaptive reuse. The design responds to two interconnected issues shaping contemporary urban life: the loneliness epidemic emerging from social fragmentation, and our environmental degradation. In response, the project adopts a dual approach: a light-touch architectural intervention combined with a bold-handed landscape restoration strategy.
The architectural component prioritises retaining and adapting Halvorsen Hall, resisting the common trend of demolition of this building type and era. Its beige brickwork and red terracotta roof, often overlooked, are revalued, while a rear extension adds flexibility without altering the hall’s silhouette or embodied carbon. By contrast, the landscape is transformed: tennis courts are replaced with restored seasonal wetlands, reflecting the site’s original ecology.’ - Zoe Newman, 2025.
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#uwadesign #summerexhibtion2025 #uwaarchitecture #universitywa