Radical designs for revival of city hall

PERTH: Have your say on architects’ visions for city centre landmark building as proposals are submitted in £20 million project

The wraps have come off five striking designs for Perth City Hall.

Leading architects from across Europe have submitted their visions for the city centre venue.

The hall, which has stood vacant for 12 years, is being transformed into a visual arts venue which may become home to the Stone of Destiny.

Council bosses say the £20 million project is vital for a region they say is lacking an attraction capable of bringing in more than 100,000 people a year.

The designs include an external staircase, rooftop garden and large artistic plinths.

One architect has suggested tearing down most of the building’s exterior walls, replacing them with a huge glass front.

The public is being urged to have its say on the designs, before a final decision by councillors in August.

The Glasgow design team responsible for, among others, the People’s History Museum in Manchester want people to feel at home in their new-look hall.

A spokesman said: “We love the old building, so we want to keep the best historic features and open up the box to welcome everyone to Perth’s Living Room.”

The main body of the building will become a flexible exhibition space called the Art Mixer. Images submitted by Austin-Smith show a gallery filled with paintings hanging from the ceiling rather than on the wall.

“The Art Mixer is a new type of exhibition space,” the brief states.

“The Art Mixer is able to lift, lower, store and suspend works of art in a flexible way. One day the hall can be filled by one large Anish Kapoor, the next it can show a cloud of paintings and sculptures.”

The design also features a new “urban” entrance from Kirk Square, described in the plans as Perth’s Portal.

On top of the building would be a panoramic rooftop garden, which visitors can access from a grand stairway emerging from St John’s Square.

The Geddesian garden, inspired by

Scottish town planner Sir Patrick Geddes, is designed to “celebrate outlook, biodiversity and a fusion of art, culture and community”.

HOSKINS ARCHITECTS

Hoskins, which recently completed a £50m revamp of the National Museum of Scotland, said it wants to make city hall a “world-class cultural attraction”.

The team proposes, perhaps controversially, moving the New Market Cross memorial to open up an approach from St John’s Shopping Centre and King Edward Street.

Hoskins envisages a central atrium flooded with daylight. A prominent staircase will lead up to the main gallery on the first floor.

Exhibition spaces have been designed to allow for flexibility while giving visitors views across the city to Kinnoull Hill.

A temporary exhibition gallery will be at the top of the building, which Hoskins describes as its “crown”.

A spokesman said: “This element creates both the flexible space required to attract touring exhibitions of national and international significance.”

LDN ARCHITECTS

LDN Architects have previously worked on the Royal Museum of Scotland and the Bell Mill at Stanley Mills in Perthshire.

The company believes its “world-class visitor experience” at Perth City Hall will “attract visitors, improve the quality of community life and deliver economic regeneration and growth”.

LDN proposes a series of exhibition plinths on the outside of the hall, along its southern side.

A new 21st Century entrance will be formed facing St John’s Kirk. The idea is to make the hall more “transparent, welcoming and inviting” while creating a buzz in the public space between the hall and the church.

Inside, new galleries will feature a range of spaces varying in size, form and flexibility to suit the wide range of objects within the permanent and temporary collections, as well as interactive areas and innovation labs.

A spokesman said: “The success of the galleries will be measured by whether or not they provide a memorable and exciting experience for visitors.”

He said a large temporary gallery could have its own entrance on the ground floor, adding: “The galleries on the top floor are more open in character and celebrate the original architecture of the city hall’s roofspace.”

The designs feature a shop and cafe with “breathing spaces” areas bathed in natural light, between galleries.

MECANOO

The Dutch firm has offices in New York, London, Manchester and Taiwan and has worked on, among others, the Martin Luther King Memorial Library in Washington.

Its proposal aims to create a “new gateway to Perth, to its history and its pride”.

The design shows a large exhibition space in the main hall and modern cafe/bar.

A spokesman said: “Perth City Hall has been under a dust blanket for many years, however its grandeur and resonance within the hearts and minds of the community has meant that it has not been forgotten.”

He said the aim is to “re-activate” the hall with numerous “light touch” interventions which will open the building up to the public realm at ground level.

Mecanoo also says it wants to provide a flexible platform to best display the council’s permanent and temporary collections.

“The design is about transparency, permeability, accessibility and creating an interactive environment for all,” the spokesman added.

RICHARD MURPHY ARCHITECTS

The Edinburgh firm have previously led redevelopments at the British Golf Museum in St Andrews and Haymarket in the capital.

They are the only ones to mention the row over the proposed demolition of city hall in their submission.

A spokesman said: “We are very conscious of the recent controversy regarding the potential demolition of the former Perth City Hall. Many residents have very happy memories of the building and we recognise it forms a very strong and familiar landmark in the city centre.

“Nonetheless, we think the building needs radical surgery, not just internally, to transform it from a concert hall to a museum and gallery, but also to make the new function of the museum evident from the outside.”

Describing the hall as a “mysterious and slightly forbidding box”, Richard Murphy envisages creating a second entrance opposite St John’s Kirk.

A cafe and shop will be placed in this area.

The whole ground floor of the building will be lowered to street level to make the hall accessible to everyone.

The most radical part of the plan involves removing the central part of the north elevation, inserting a giant steel beam and rebuilding the cornice and parapet, but otherwise replacing all stone work with a glass wall.

The exhibition space would be similar to the Burrell Gallery in Glasgow with a series of interconnecting and varied spaces.

Richard Murphy’s design also includes four giant “cabinets of curiosities” which will span across the concert hall.

Clockwise, from main picture: The design by Hoskins, LDN from the inside, Austin-Smith, Richard Murphy and Mecanoo.