Campbell Park, Canberra
Campbell Park, also known as the Campbell Park Offices, is a large 1970s Brutalist style office building located in the Campbell Park Woodland at the southeastern base of Mount Ainslie, Canberra, the national capital of Australia. Together with the nearby Russell Offices, they house the headquarters of the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Department of Defence. History By the mid 1960s it was clear that the Department of Defence needed more space than was available at the Russell Offices site, and a search for a suitable location that could house thousands of personnel began. In 1968 the site in the wooded area at the south east foot on Mount Ainslie was decided on, which despite its relative isolation was felt to be able to provide good connection to the Russell offices site, along a new road, now known as Northcott Ave. Some Canberrans on the other hand feel that it has been somewhat hidden away on purpose. The site's location adjacent to the airport meant that Defence had to accept a long low building rather than the preferred high-rise option. The job was given to the ACT Branch of the Federal Department of Works (later the Department of Housing and Construction), their first such large scale project in Canberra. The Principal Architect in the Branch was James McCormick, who in turn appointed the young graduate Theo Hirsch as the principal designer of the project, along with Max Barham and Bill Adamson, beginning work in 1969. After the adoption of the design concept of long wings separated by service towers, with a finish of off-form concrete, considerable effort was put into achieving a warm colour by choosing an aggregate from Cooma rather than the standard black aggregate from Mt Mugga. The complex was built in three stages, with the first stage comprising the southern two wings completed in 1973, and the last wing completed in 1976. Two more sections were planned at the northern end, bending back towards the hill, making an S shape. The north end of Node E features protruding reinforcing bars at the floor levels, and the corridor ends can clearly be seen. It is said that the discovery of instabilities in the earth caused the plans to be shelved, but it is likely that funding just ceased. It was built during the second decade of the expansion of Canberra under the National Capital Development Commission, an authority that oversaw the construction of very large office complexes and other buildings in the 1970s that are amongst the most dramatic examples of the Brutalist style in Australia, buildings that displayed the bold sculptural and structural possibilities of concrete. These include John Andrew's Cameron Offices, Belconnen, 1970-76 (partly demolished), and his Callam Offices in Woden (1977–81), the Canberra School of Music by Daryl Jackson and Evan Walker (1970–76), the Edmund Barton Building by Harry Seidler (1970–74), and the High Court (1975-1980) and the National Gallery of Australia (1973-1982) both by Edwards Madigan Torzillo & Briggs. The Campbell Park Offices