Austin-Smith:Lord / MVRDV team shortlisted for Perth City Hall

We are delighted to be named as one of five teams shortlisted for the redesign of Perth City Hall.

Austin-Smith:Lord and MVRDV are collaborating together with Perth-based Fergus Purdie Architects to create initial design concepts to breathe new life into this historic B-Listed building.

Perth and Kinross Council are looking to bring the building back into public use and create an international cultural destination for permanent and temporary exhibits. The revitalised building will deliver accessible community and creative learning spaces for locals, and serve as a new cultural destination for visitors to the city.

The project forms part of Perth’s bid to become UK City of Culture 2021.

Graham Ross, Partner and Glasgow studio principal at Austin-Smith:Lord said “our team are thrilled to be shortlisted for this exciting project. Extending our longstanding collaboration with internationally renowned architects MVRDV of Rotterdam, with whom we are preparing the (Y)our City Centre masterplans for Glasgow City Council, will bring an added dimension to the project. Redefining Perth City Hall as an innovative and contemporary cultural space presents a significant opportunity for the City to create a world-renowned destination that will benefit the local community and raise Perth’s international profile.

“Drawing upon our vast experience of delivering high quality contemporary arts and culture projects within sensitive historic environments we are anticipating an exciting challenge to fuse Perth’s past, understand its present and outline what is possible for City Hall in the future. If selected we would combine our in-house expertise in architecture, conservation, streetscape design and urban planning to work collaboratively with people in Perth to create a distinctive vision for their City Hall.”

To view Austin-Smith:Lord’s Arts and Culture projects click here.

Austin-Smith:Lord LLP is a leading multi-disciplinary design practice that provides architecture, urban design, masterplanning, conservation architecture, landscape architecture, planning advice and sustainability design services to a wide client base throughout the UK. Our Practice has been active in the Arts and Culture sector for decades, with successful projects including Bluecoats Arts Centre (for Liverpool European City of Culture), Helensburgh Outdoor Museum, Liverpool Central

Library, Airdrie Town Hall, Paisley Town Hall, Ayr Gaiety Theatre auditorium conservation and re-fit, Bedwellty House, International Slavery Museum Liverpool, Merthyr Tydfil Arts Centre, Llanelly House, People’s History Museum Manchester, Shrewsbury Museum, FACT, Museum of Science and Industry Manchester, and Leeds City Museum.

Many of these project are multi award-winning, and most involve refurbishment and/or extension to important and cherished historic buildings in our society. Our accredited conservation architects are currently working on innovative repair solutions for the 18th century Chinese Pagoda at Kew Gardens in London, having recently completed a conservation project at the Tower of London. Meanwhile, our Culture team have recently been commissioned to undertake our second major project for Birmingham Royal Ballet, and have also been appointed as architects for Shakespeare North in Prescot working in partnership with Nick Helm Architects. Further details of Austin-Smith:Lord’s extensive Arts + Culture experience is available here (LINK)

Austin-Smith:Lord have recently been commissioned by Glasgow City Council working in collaboration with MVRDV on the rethinking and planning the regeneration of four key districts in Glasgow City centre.

MVRDV are internationally renowned architects and urbanists who have received widespread acclaim for their unique approach to design solutions. These have resulted in a range of buildings types and sizes, to urban plans and visions, numerous publications, installations and exhibitions. Built projects include the Netherlands Pavilion for the World EXPO 2000 in Hannover; the Market Hall, a combination of housing and retail in Rotterdam; the Pushed Slab, a sustainable office building in Paris’ first eco-district; Flight Forum, an innovative business park in Eindhoven; the Silodam Housing complex in Amsterdam; the Matsudai Cultural Centre in Japan; an international bank headquarters in Oslo, Norway; and the iconic Mirador and Celosia housing in Madrid.

Current projects include the proposed 15,000m2 Art Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen – a new collection building for the city of Rotterdam set to store more than 145,000 art and design objects and the soon-to-be-completed Skygarden a floating (green) overpass transformation in central Seoul with 254 species of trees, shrubs and flowers.