ctbuh.org/papers

Title: A Report on Oceania

Author: Henry Jack Cowan, University of Sydney

Subjects: Building Case Study History, Theory & Criticism

Keyword: Verticality

Publication Date: 2001

Original Publication: CTBUH 2001 6th World Congress, Melbourne

Paper Type: 1. Book chapter/Part chapter 2. Journal paper 3. Conference proceeding 4. Unpublished conference paper 5. Magazine article 6. Unpublished

© Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat / Henry Jack Cowan COUNTRY REPORTS A Report on Oceania Henry J. Cowan

Until the mid-19th century few buildings in Australia were higher than two storeys. This changed after the Gold Rush of 1851. By 1880 the population of Melbourne had increased from 20 000 to more than half a million. It had become the third largest city of the British Empire, and the headquarters of most Australian banks and important commercial enterprises. But even with this increase in population density few buildings exceeded four stories, because it was considered that people would not climb more stairs. In 1884 Wilhelm Prell proposed to erect another 4-storey building at 15 Queen Street when he received a visit from a Vice-President of Otis who had been sent to Australia to get business for the American company. He convinced Prell that if he put up a six-storey building with an elevator, the upper two storeys would yield as much rent as the ground floor. The success of this build- ing caused Prell to erect three nine-storey elevator buildings, and several more followed. Melbourne was then not far behind Chicago, where a newspaper editorial writer coined the term skyscraper for buildings ten storeys or more in height. In 1891 Chicago had nine skyscrapers. The demand for efficient elevators was met by the installation of a system of high-pressure water pipes under the city street surfaces. In 1887 Melbourne became the world’s fourth city to build a public hydraulic power system, used for hoists and wool presses, as well as elevators. Since this power was available at the turn of a tap, there was a rapid increase in the number of elevator buildings. At the turn of the century Sydney again became Australia’s leading city. As its building heights increased, it also installed a hydraulic power system. Culwalla Chambers was built in 1912 to a height of 170 feet, and this led to a demand for a limitation on the height of buildings. The fire brigade’s turntables could only reach 150 feet, so that the top floors were out of their reach. The growing environmental movement argued that tall buildings ruined the city as a place to live in; but the main problem was that the building, as constructed in 1912, was very ugly. The City Council passed a resolution limiting building heights to 150 feet, which remained law for 43 years, and was soon adopted in Melbourne. This limitation was not as restrictive as it might now seem, because the short era of post-World-War I prosperity was followed by the Great Depression, and then by World-War II, and there was really no pressing demand for taller buildings. 736 Country Reports

The height limitation was removed in 1955 when commercial construction resumed after the War. The first building to exceed 150 feet was the AMP Building at Circular Quay in Sydney, a 31-storey steel-framed building, 117 m high, com- pleted in 1961. Its architects were Peddle Thorp and Walker, and the structural engineer was John Rankine, a former Chairman of the Council on Tall Buildings. His design introduced the basic principles followed by most subsequent tall build- ings: the use of a long-span floor structure to obtain a column-free interior, stiff connections for rigid-frame action, and transfer trusses at plantroom level. Many more high-rise buildings were erected in Sydney and Melbourne in the 1960s and 70s. New height records were set in 1968 by the 40-storey con- crete-framed Australia Square Tower and in 1977 by the 60-storey concrete- framed MLC Centre, both designed by architect Harry Seidler and consulting engineers Miller, Milston Ferris. At 228 m the latter remained the tallest build- ing outside North and South America for many years. In 1985 the Rialto Tower, a 60-storey concrete office building, 242 m high, was completed in Melbourne, and this is still the tallest building in Australasia and Oceania. Its architects were Perrott Lyon Matheson, and its engineer was W. L. Meinhardt. Of the ten tallest buildings in the region, 5 are at present in Melbourne, 3 in Sydney and 2 in Perth. There has been no significant increase in height since 1977, just as there has been no significant increase in height in the United States since the 1930s when the Empire State Building was built. But there has been in other countries, particularly in Asia. So now there are only two Australian build- ings among the one hundred of the world’s tallest. There is a clear case for tall buildings in Australia, as in other countries of the New World. They make the Central Business District more efficient, and more interesting architecturally. The first tall building was built in Central Sydney in 1960. Recent tall buildings are not as tall as in America, because the population density is lower. The maximum height is in Australia determined by economic factors, and not by technical considerations. This economic limitation on height is over-ruled only when an all-powerful company or a politician not restrained by democratic procedures wants to set a new record. We could build much higher if we wanted to do so. Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, entered the tall building field early, but then decided that they were out of character with its Georgian tradi- tions, and its tallest building today is the Santos Building, a 32-storey structure originally built for the State Bank. The presently tallest buildings in Western Australia and in Queensland both date from 1988. The R&I Tower in Perth by architects Cameron Chisholm and Nicol and engineers Ove Arup has a 52-storey concrete frame, 214 m high. Central Plaza One in Brisbane, by architects Peddle Thorp and engineers Maunsell, also has a concrete frame, but it is only 44 storeys, 174 m in height. All three are office buildings. New Zealand is part of my territory, and there are some significant tall buildings in Auckland. The tallest is the 38-storey ANZ Building, constructed in 1989. Oceania is also part of my territory. It is a very large part of the Earth’s Cowan – A Report on Oceania 737 surface, and consists mostly of small islands, which need, and have only small buildings. There has been a steady move of population to the warmer climate of the North, and I think the most interesting future developments in tall building design may eventuate in Brisbane, the capital city of resource-rich Queensland.