Kelmscott station plaza redevelopment was part of a wider infrastructure project that replaced Denny Avenue level crossing with a rail-over-road underpass at the nearby Davis Road. The project was a Labor Government commitment with additional works in the broader Kelmscott CBD. These works included replacing a 100-year-old water main on Albany Highway (which supplies Perth CBD), resurfacing Albany Highway and more specifically, revitalising Kelmscott Town Centre with the activation of the former 19^th century station master’s house with associated landscaping and public art.

Plus Studio was appointed to complete and document the master plan design for the plaza including the refurbishment of the Station master’s house. Although the plaza and heritage works were under a Design and Construct contract, with reference design proposals established, there were many planning conditions which required further design development, consultation and resolution with stakeholders. These included engagements and workshops with Metronet, Development WA, the City of Armadale, residents and Aboriginal people representatives. Key issues required to be resolved were the:

• final designs for the plaza in terms of accommodating Development WA’s activation strategies;
• place-making and extent of streetscaping and ‘greening’ expected by the City of Armadale;
• Main Roads WA’s requirements for road and street changes; and,
• engagement with local heritage and Aboriginal cultural groups – this included the appointment of local and Indigenous artists to respond to these contextual issues.

Plus was also actively engaged in the selection of artists and worked with them on ideas so there was alignment with the intent of the design of these public spaces. A focal point for the plaza redevelopment was the station master’s house. The house is believed to have been built in around 1895 and was one of many Station Masters’ Houses built at that time from a ‘standard’ plan. The house is registered on the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority’s heritage inventory and was the subject of a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) prepared by the Heritage Works, Department of Planning Lands and Heritage.

Development WA saw this house as a key activator for their strategy; however, its planned use as a food and beverage offer could not be commercially achieved prior to or during the D&C contract period; therefore, efforts were focused on refurbishing the building as a community space to support the public plaza. On that basis we paid particular attention to retaining as much original materials as possible and where original fabric was too degraded we, where possible, replaced with either matching or similar materials.

The plaza design chose to promote a space for day-to-day family engagement that could host local events such as festivals and markets. It reinforces existing pedestrian routes to and from the city centre and station, opening the site as a welcoming and engaging space for public amenity. The house is not fenced or concealed, but part of the plaza to be engaged with like the twenty-three animal sculptures, by the artist Margaret Dillon, which are positioned through-out the landscape and encourage exploration and interaction. These elements of design needed to balance with the need for social safety and security and the use of lighting and sightlines responded to key CPTED issues.

The same design thinking was also extended to the civil and road works with Aboriginal artistic engagement with Peter and Miranda Farmer and Jason Hirst. Their artwork is a colourful array of metal leaves planted at the Davis Road underpass with engravings that reference the local plants, waterways and animals of Kelmscott; a place the Noongar people call, Goolamup – ‘the place of the young men’.