Student Residences QUT Kelvin Grove Campus Conservation Management Plan ROBERT RIDDEL ARCHITECT Student Residences QUT Kelvin Grove Campus Conservation Management Plan December 2004 ROBERT RIDDEL ARCHITECT 7 Diddams Lane Petrie Bight PO Box 1267 Fortitude Valley Q 4006 Ph 38314155 Fax 38314150 email [email protected] CONTENTS 1 Introduction .................................................1 The study team ........................................1 2 Historical overview............................................2 Technical education in Queensland ........................2 Kelvin Grove hall of residence............................3 Subsequent changes to the complex .......................6 The site today.........................................6 3 Significance of site ............................................8 Assessing cultural heritage significance .....................8 Statement of significance ................................9 Discussion of significance ................................9 Schedule – elements of significance .......................10 4 Conservation policies .........................................12 The Burra Charter.....................................12 The significance of the site ..............................13 Qualified personnel....................................13 Materials and method of repair..........................13 Removal of fixtures and fittings ..........................13 Interpretation.........................................14 Planning and spatial relationships.........................14 Community building – main entrance ......................14 Community building – additions and alterations ..............14 Community building – internal spaces and planning...........14 Community building – doors and door furniture..............15 Community building – painting...........................15 Community building – lighting............................15 Community building – cabling............................15 Community building – mechanical services..................16 Community building – external timber .....................16 Maisonettes – alterations and adaptations .................16 Maisonettes – colour scheme ............................16 Maisonettes - external timber ...........................17 Signage.............................................17 Grounds and landscaping ..............................17 Illustrations Plan of Kelvin Grove halls of residence...................................3 Cross-section of maisonettes ...........................................4 Typical plan of tutorial units and maisonettes. .............................4 Kelvin Grove halls of residence, 1978 ...................................5 Community services building (top); Tutors units (middle); Lower level units (below). 7 1 Introduction HE FORMER STUDENT RESIDENCES, situated on the QUT Kelvin Grove Campus, were erected in 1977 as accommodation for country residents Tundertaking short-term Technical and Further Education (TAFE)courses in Brisbane. The complex was designed by John Dalton, a widely respected Queensland architect who had won numerous awards, particularly for his domestic commission. The design departed from the institutional approach to student accommodation of dormitories or cellular planning with individual rooms and corridors. Instead, it created a domestic and village-type environment with maisonettes and winding paths. The complex was sold to the Queensland University of Technology in 1993 for $4 million. The site was entered on the Queensland Heritage Register in 2000. As part of the redevelopment of the QUT Kelvin Grove Campus and the development of the Kelvin Grove Urban Village, three clusters of maisonettes were demolished in 2002. QUT intend to adapt the complex for offices and as a conference centre. This Conservation Management Plan was commissioned to guide the planning and design of the adaptation of the complex for new uses. This report has been prepared in accordance with the Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992 and the publication The Conservation Plan: a guide to the preparation of conservation plans for places of European Cultural Significance.1 THE STUDY TEAM This report was researched and prepared by Thom Blake with assistance from Robert Riddel and Geoff Cook. Drawings were undertaken by Luke Blake. 1James Semple Kerr, Conservation Plan: a guide to the preparation of conservation plans for places of European cultural significance (Sydney: National Trust of NSW, 5th edition, 2000). QUT Residences Conservation Management Plan 1 2 Historical overview HE HALLS OF RESIDENCE at the Kelvin Grove campus were constructed in 1977 to provide accommodation for apprentices to undertake short Tterm training in Brisbane. TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN QUEENSLAND Throughout the 19th century the only avenue for technical education was the local school of arts. Courses in trades were part of a wider educational program conducted by school of arts committees in the larger centres. The quality and variety of instruction depended on the competence and enthusiasm of committee members. In the early 1900s the state government began to take a more active interest in technical colleges. A Board of Technical Education was established in 1902 and three years later, a Technical Education Branch was created within the Department of Public Instruction. The Technical Instruction Act of 1908 empowered the government to take over existing technical colleges. The first colleges to be taken over were in Brisbane and were amalgamated to form the Central Technical College. Other technical colleges that had been administered by local committees gradually came under the control of the Department of Public Instruction. The government also established new colleges in several centres, including Maryborough, Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Mackay. During the 1920s technical education was combined with secondary education in various centres including Charters Towers , Rockhampton and Toowomba. Technical colleges and high schools remained intertwined until the 1950s when the Queensland government realised the need to upgrade and expand secondary education in the state. The expansion of secondary education resulted in the separation of technical colleges from high schools. Technical and Further Education became a distinct and separate branch of the Department of Education. The Education Act of 1964 highlighted a renewed emphasis on the importance of technical education with the establishment of Technical Education Advisory Council. A separate Department of Technical and Further Education was created in 19??. A building program saw new colleges established and existing facilities upgraded including Yeronga, Coorparoo, Kangaroo Point, Toowomba and Bundaberg. Further changes occurred with technical education during the 1970s. The Commonwealth government took on a greater responsibility for funding QUT Residences Conservation Management Plan 2 technical education and improving the quality of training. One significant Plan of Kelvin Grove halls of changed in the approach to technical education was the introduction of ‘block’ residence. The first stage training. provided accommodation for 120 students in five clusters with a central community building. The system of block training was introduced to provide intensive instruction for apprentices over a seven week period rather than evening classes throughout the year. To facilitate this approach, the Queensland government decided in May 1973 to develop accommodation facilities for students undertaking block training in certain centres. The first facility was established in Maryborough when the Arkana North Motel was purchased and converted into student accommodation. The government agreed to built facilities at Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville, Cairns and Brisbane. Only the Brisbane facility was ultimately constructed. KELVIN GROVE HALL OF RESIDENCE Planning for the Brisbane facility began in 1973. A site was selected at Chelmer but major flooding of the Brisbane River in January 1974 abruptly altered those plans. An alternative site at Kelvin Grove was chosen. This site, adjacent to the Kelvin Grove Teachers College was previously part of the Gona Barracks reserve. In the early 1970s, the northern part of the reserve was excised for two purposes. The lower portion of the excised area was designated for a proposed a north-west freeway. The northern part of the excised area, bounded by Kelvin Grove Road and Blamey Street, was designated a reserve for technical education. The Architectural branch within the Department of Works was responsible for the design and construction of the new facility. Although the branch did undertake the design of most government buildings, it adopted a practice in QUT Residences Conservation Management Plan 3 Cross-section of maisonettes including sun penetration and air circulation. the 1970s of occasionally engaging the services of a architectural practice. On this occasion, the branch engaged the services of John Dalton Architect and Associates. The engagement of Dalton was primarily due to the efforts of a senior architect in the branch, Peter Prystupa. Ukranian-born Prystupa had studied architecture in Vienna during the 1940s. He migrated to Queensland in 1949 and joined the Department of Works in 1953. As a senior architect, he recognised the value engaging the services of respected and innovative architects in private practice. Apart from John Dalton, Prystupa facilitated