Projects that capture the spirit of Anzac Day
As the Sir John Monash Centre opens its doors for the first time tomorrow, we ask some of Australia’s top design talent to reflect on the projects that capture the spirit of Anzac Day.
Named after the general who led the Australian Corps with great success on the Western Front, the Sir John Monash Centre (pictured left) at Villers-Bretonneux in France is the new centrepiece of the Australian Remembrance Trail connecting battlefield sites from Flanders to the Somme.
Designed by a team led by Cox Architecture, the interpretive centre joins the much-loved Sir Edwin Lutyens memorial which opened in 1938.
On the site, which is expected to welcome 90,000 annual visitors, stands a semi-subterranean building, roofed with turf to harmonise with the existing memorial and landscape.
“This is a building that says as much about the landscape setting and site geometry with the building somewhat hidden,” says Emma Williamson, a director with Cox Architecture.
Williamson says she loves the inclusion of an interpretative centre that will “continue to tell the Anzac story to the next generation, captured and told through the use of digital technology”.
“The experience of moving through the building, along the trench-like entry and out to the sunlit, buried courtyard are emotional experiences that are reflective, memorable and hopeful. The relationship between the building and the landscape are critical to this,” Williamson adds.
While the Sir John Monash Centre carves out a new place in our collective hearts, many memorials are firmly embedded in the Australian identity.
Williamson loves Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, which opened in November 1934 to commemorate the 60,000 soldiers who fell in World War I.
“This is a beautifully-composed building sitting on axis in the centre of Melbourne, in a remarkable setting within the Botanic Gardens,” Williamson says.
In 2016 the Shrine of Remembrance received the Property Council of Australia/Rider Levett Bucknall’s S4B Studio Award for Best Heritage Development for the $45 million Galleries of Remembrance project, led by ARM Architecture. Repurposing 1,600 sqm of undercroft space into a visitors and education centre has brought new life to the monument.
The architecture team has “created symmetrical, yet irregular spaces that are embedded in the landscape. These spaces are immersive and impressive,” Williamson adds.
Honouring the past
Architectus director Ray Brown says the Anzac Memorial in Sydney’s Hyde Park may be an “obvious choice” but it’s also a “standout” for good reason.
“It is powerful and sombre, perfectly reflecting the gravitas of the events it commemorates,” he says.
Bruce Delitt, a Sydney architect, was awarded the project in an international architectural competition in 1930. He pocketed the princely sum of £2.
The art deco memorial was designed to function as a sculptural monument, although it initially also served a more utilitarian purpose as the home of various veterans’ organisations.
“The haunting sculptures by Raynor Hoff almost emerge from the granite façade in a seamless fusion of art and architecture,” Brown says.
For Greg Barnett, WMK’s managing director, the Australian War Memorial in Canberra is an “obvious manifestation of Anzac”, but Sydney’s Anzac Bridge captures the spirit of this special day.
“Apart from the name, the bridge structure is elegant and bold. It spans over a divide to connect people, and with the flourish of the cable structures, it is even a bit reminiscent of the Australian military forces’ hat badge found on slouch hats,” Barnett says.
Kylee Schoonens, a director of Fratelle Group in Western Australia, loves the National Anzac Centre in Albany.
Designed by WA Architecture practice Peter Hunt Architects and completed in 2014, the centre overlooks King George Sound, where the first and second convoys of soldiers set sail for Gallipoli.
“Albany was the first location from which Anzac troops left for war and was also the first location for a dawn service to be held to commemorate the immense loss of lives in 1918,” Schoonens explains.
“Located on the top of Mt Clarence, the centre provides large galleries and observation spaces that ensure visitors can learn about and reflect on this important part of Australia’s history.”
Looking to the future
For Nettletontribe director Michael Morgan, Anzac Day is “not about nationalism or the coming of age for our country – it is about an unerring commitment of the pursuit of what is right, of what is just, without question.”
Morgan thinks the projects which best embody the spirit of the Anzacs aren’t necessarily war memorials at all.
Instead, they are projects that “build community and cross the multi-racial edges of Australian society today”.
Reminding us that on Anzac day we remember the past, reflect on the present, and rightly, think about the future.