Inverloch design: Why white isn’t beautiful baby!

IF, AS they say, ‘black is beautiful, baby’, then what about white?

In the context of the development of a new $35 million residential hotel, in the middle of Inverloch, the choice of a “big, white box” building is not all it might be, according to highly-regarded urban designer, Amanda Roberts.

Ms Roberts was appearing as an expert witness on behalf of the South Gippsland Conservation Society at a VCAT hearing in Melbourne this week called to consider objections to the project; to the scale of the development by the Bass Coast Shire Council and the whole project by the conservation group and others.

During a cross-examination of Ms Roberts’ evidence by counsel for the developers, Dominic Scally, Principal at Best Hooper Lawyers, the pair got into a technical exchange about whether the predominantly white tones of the proposed building were an acceptable response to the site and the zoning.

Mrs Roberts argued the overall impact of the building would be greatly improved if it used the colour pallet of the surrounding coastal areas, and a variety of materials including raw timber, rammed earth and the like, overlayed on black or dark tonings, which would serve to bring out the natural materials and colours.

Mr Scally used photos of new white-form houses that have sprung up along Ramsay Boulevard and The Esplanade, as evidence that white was more than acceptable, it was the established character of the area.

“I would put to you that it is an acceptable response in this context in the DDO1 (Bass Coast Planning Scheme design objectives),” Mr Scally said.

These objectives include: “To minimise the impact of development along the coastline and to protect and enhance the visual amenity and landscape of the coastal area” among others.

Mr Scally continued:

“These are all front-row DDO1 buildings which take the same approach to this white box design that you are critical of. I put it to you that this is the character,” Mr Scally said, asking Ms Roberts if she simply preferred different colours to those that had already been established in the vicinity.

Mr Scally also highlighted the wave-reference in the design of the building as being sympathetic to coast.

Ms Roberts said she didn’t believe the same sorts of assessment had been applied to nearby white houses that was being applied to this major building project in a prominent place, surrounded by public land.

Another context photo of a nearby house, at 38 Venus Street, also shown to the VCAT panel, was a better example, according to Ms Roberts, of what should be employed at 2-4 The Esplanade, “rather than the ‘Lido’ European-style white box” selected by the developers.

Ms Roberts said it would be far better to revisit the design, if it was to go ahead, choosing colours and materials that were more in keeping with the coast and the Inverloch foreshore.

Ms Roberts said it would minimise the impact on surrounding areas if more natural materials and colours were used rather than a white box.

“It's more about your personal desire isn’t it?” Mr Scally said.

“No, it’s my professional opinion about a better outcome,” Ms Roberts said.

As well as raising issues about acceptable colours and materials, with relation to the proposed residential hotel, the exchange at VCAT this week also brings into question why so many white-themed houses have been allowed to be built facing the foreshore in Inverloch.

The VCAT hearing continues this week but it may be that the issues raised at this hearing, with relation to materials and colours used, design, height and bulk will also feed into the Bass Coast Shire Council’s preparation of its draft Neighbourhood Character Study, Residential Development Framework and Housing Strategy which is currently in progress.

However in the absence of an updated Character Study at Inverloch, the horse, a white horse in this case, may already have bolted.