CentreStage is a two-stage competition to select the architectural consultants for the design of a new performing arts venue and associated open spaces on a site at the corner of William and Roe Streets in the cultural centre of Perth, the capital city of the State of Western Australia.
Purpose
Construction of a new performing arts facility is an important event in the life of any city. It is especially significant in Perth because this is the first professional performing arts venue to be developed by the State Government, and the first venue of its type to be built in the city for over 30 years. Perth's performing arts community has been waiting a long time for an appropriate venue to support its diverse production program. Perth audiences are similarly excited about the prospect of a facility that will enrich the theatre-going experience and expand the number and quality of local and touring productions. From a planning and development perspective, the site is a prominent location in the heart of the city's cultural and entertainment district, and the investment in a new performance venue is seen as a critical catalyst in the continuing revitalisation of the central city.
This is a demanding and prestigious project and expectations are high – from a variety of quarters. The Department of Culture and the Arts, in conjunction with the Department of Housing and Works, which are the government agencies responsible for delivering the new facility, recognise design and function as the keys to satisfying these diverse expectations, within the strict time and budget constraints of the project. The Departments therefore have chosen to select a design team for the project through an international design competition that opens the challenge to the most creative and capable architects from around the world.
The competition process will identify a team that brings originality and design excellence to the project, as well as the technical capacity to deliver a building of this scale and complexity on time and within budget. The process is also seen as an opportunity to enrich the project with fresh ideas on state of the art performance spaces, and on urban design strategies for weaving the new facility into the life of the surrounding area, adding to its vitality and sense of place in the city.
Participants
Delivery of a new performing arts venue in the city of Perth is the responsibility of the Department of Culture and the Arts (DCA). Design and construction of the project will be contracted and managed by the Department of Housing and Works (DHW), on behalf of DCA.
The competition is administered by the Urban Design Centre of Western Australia (UDC), a non-profit research and design advocacy organisation associated with The University of Western Australia and Curtin University of Technology. The UDC has worked closely with DCA and DHW to design the competition process and is responsible for the handling of submitted materials, organising the judging for each stage of the competition and maintaining the highest standards of anonymity and fairness throughout the process. The UDC acts as an independent liaison between competitors and DCA and DHW, and all technical questions or requests for additional information must be directed to the UDC.
In selecting the site for the facility and developing a project brief, DCA has consulted widely with State and local planning and development agencies, the arts industry, special interest groups, and a variety of technical advisers including design professionals, theatre design and management experts, quantity surveyors and heritage specialists. These consultants will remain "on call" throughout the competition process to answer technical questions about the proposed facility and the site.
The Competition Jury comprises the following six members:
- Geoffrey London (Jury Chair), Australia
- Adèle Naudé Santos, USA
- Leon Van Schaik, Australia
- Gus Ferguson, Australia
- Michael Lynch, United Kingdom
- Alastair Bryant, Australia
Stage 1 Process
The process for short listing entrants to go through to Stage 2 of the competition will proceed through the following steps:
- The Jury will evaluate concept boards against the selection criteria provided in the Stage 1 documentation, to short list the four most promising concepts. The Jury will evaluate the concept boards without the qualifications statements in the first instance to ensure anonymity of the competition entries.
- These four short listed entries will then be matched with their associated qualifications statements. The Jury will check that the entries meet the eligibility requirements provided in the Stage 1 documentation, and confirm the capacity of the teams to complete the project.
- Should any of the short listed entries not meet eligibility or capacity requirements, the Jury will return to the pool of still anonymous concept boards to select the next highest ranked submission(s), which will then be matched with their associated qualifications statements. This process will be repeated until the four strongest and eligible submissions on all 10 criteria are identified.
- Applicants will be notified of the outcomes of the short listing process.
Stage 2 Process
The four short listed applicants selected from Stage 1 will be invited to develop their concepts into schematic designs, according to the competition conditions and design requirements published for Stage 2 in mid-August, 2005. The process for selecting a final winner will proceed through the following steps:
- A technical review of the four anonymous submissions will be coordinated by the Competition Administrator for compliance with the conditions and requirements of the Stage 2 documents, including a budget review by an independent Quantity Surveyor. Any submission that does not conform to the instructions and requirements of the Stage 2 documents may be disqualified and eliminated from further consideration.
- Submissions will be evaluated by the Competition Jury on selection criteria detailed in the Stage 2 document and the report on program and budget compliance produced in the previous step. The Jury will select the winning applicant and rank the other entries in order of merit below the winning scheme.
- DHW may proceed to award the contract, based on the Western Australian Government’s General Conditions of Contract, to the winning competitor. No announcement of the results of the competition will be made until a contract agreement has been secured.
- The design development phase of the project will proceed immediately on the successful conclusion of the competition process.
Competition |
Milestones |
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| Competition launch | 9 June 2005 |
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Registration requirements available online
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9 June 2005 |
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| Registration closes | 30 June 2005 |
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| Stage 1 requirements available online | 1 July 2005 |
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| Deadline for submission of Stage 1 questions | 15 July 2005 |
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| Deadline for submission of Stage 1 entries | 5 August 2005 |
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| Stage 1 judging process | 7 – 8 August 2005 |
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| Announcement of finalists | 23 August 2005 |
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Stage 2 Requirements available online
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15 August 2005 |
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| Deadline for submission of Stage 2 questions | 16 September 2005 |
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| Deadline for Stage 2 entries | 2 November 2005 |
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| Stage 2 judging process | 10 – 11 November 2005 |
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| Announcement of winner | 30 November 2005 |
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| Competition exhibition | November/December 2005 |
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Project Completion Milestones |
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| Design development completed | February 2006 |
| Tender documents prepared | July 2006 |
| Construction contract awarded | September 2006 |
| Site preparation completed | December 2006 |
| Main construction period ends | June 2008 |
| Fit-out completed | October 2008 |
| Operational commissioning | November 2008 |
