Outside View
This is an unusual building. It started life in the 1950's as a Post Office building - a place where the posties sorted the mail every day. So you have a government building, put up with no consideration for design or aesthetics (it was the 50's, after all) - a bland, utilitarian warehouse facade of concrete blocks and roller door. And, because the bad guys wanted to break in and steal the mail, it's built as a fortress - double thickness reinforced concrete blocks to make it burglar proof. The designers intended it for security, but it also acts as insulation - both heat and sound.
The original intention was to completely change the facade - paint most of it black or charcoal, with a big Roy Lichtenstein graphic pavement-to-roof on the right hand side. In the end, it was left as it was: it's quite cool being completely anonymous, in that no-one gives the building a second glance, and passers-by don't realize what's hidden behind the walls. But mainly, it makes an interesting contrast - you come in off the street which is all footpath and no greenery, enter this basic concrete block warehouse, and then suddenly walk into a huge space which opens up in front of you. The photos can't do it justice - it's hard to convey the drama of the transition to a big light high-stud great room