The new building used some of the elements from the 1934 Art Deco building including the central rooftop element flanked by twin flags.
We simply replaced the Union Jack with the flag of NZ.
The first floor Balcony was expanded at Levels 5, 6 and 7 full width across the building at those levels to capture the magnificent views across Government House gardens and Perth water beyond. The façade of the 1934 building featured 3 slender window recesses which we repeated on the side elevations but created them at 3 different levels to acknowledge the origins of the membership. Everyone is familiar with the three branches of the armed services which operate essentially at 3 different heights representing 3 different theatres of operation being BELOW the ground, ON the
ground and ABOVE the ground.
The 3 different elements of the 3 different heights represent those branches of the armed services from which the members are drawn to
the RSLWA.
Each of the 3 elements include sunscreens which have been allocated a symbolic colour to further reinforce the origins of the membership.
The white colour has been allocated to the lowest element to represent the arm of the services which operates BELOW the ground and is the colour of the wind swept Indian Ocean.
The red colour has been allocated to the middle height element to represent the arm of the services which operates ON the ground and is the colour of the soil of Western Australia from the laterites of the south to the iron ores of the north.
The blue colour has been allocated to the tallest element to represent the arm of the services which operates ABOVE the ground and is the colour of the clear blue Western Australian sky.
The colours on the sunscreens are removable and the LED lighting colours can be varied so that if we get a Space Force then part of the blue may become Black for the emptiness of space or Yellow for the Solar system.
The white, the red and the blue are of course the colours of the flag under which all Australian personnel have served for 120 years and before that as the Swan River Colony and are the colours of our 4 main allies in the US, the UK, NZ and France.
The building is stepped vertically at Levels 5, 6, 7 and 8 to allow it to merge with the taller Law Courts building behind and to produce 3 generous terraces to maximise exposure to the magnificent views. But the building is also stepped on plan with the lower element being narrower than the middle element which is narrower than the rear element to open up the sideways view along St Georges Tce in both directions and to provide opportunities for views from the centre and rear of the site. The stepping is also a metaphor for the hierarchical nature of all military organisations.
The typical floors contain only 2 columns to maximise the flexibility for tenancy fitouts and every floor contains windows on all three sides of
the floorplate.
The lighting is a crucial element in the design approach with the colours of the three elements being magnified at night with the inclusion of the LED strips of the 3 different colours illuminating the different elements to reinforce the design intent.
The central rooftop badge and the twin flags will also be illuminated at night because they are crucial symbolic elements of the design which were included as reference to the first Anzac House from 1934.
