Alan Saunders radio interview with Stephen Banham on the ABC Radio “By Design” program. Discusses the recently released book by Stephen Banham – Character: Cultural stories revealed through typography (Thames and Hudson)
The Gardens Point campus of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is set in a historic precinct of Brisbane, surrounded by Parliament House, Old Government House and the City Botanic Gardens. The main pedestrian entry is via a footpath opposite the Parliament House forecourt. It is also the main pedestrian entry for Old Government House. A new sign was proposed to identify all three venues to replace a degraded concrete sign.
The approach was to adopt the predominant building material (sandstone) of Parliament House as the sign panel and combine it with contemporary graphic panel detailing (stainless steel) to identify it as a new structure. The design had to go through a multi-level approval process involving the university Vice-Chancellor, Speaker of the Queensland Parliament, Old Government House and Brisbane City Council planning and engineering branches.
The base structure is in 2 x solid pieces of Helidon sandstone from the same 100 year old quarry used to restore Parliament House to give precise consistency but cut and finished in a contemporary manner to accord with heritage principles of differentiating old and new work in heritage environments. The project also involved installing a paved surrounding within the existing sandstone kerb-line.
