Windsor Towers

Krantz and Sheldon.

1968.

9 Parker St, South Perth.

'Having decided that the only type of construction for a tall residential building was bearing wall construction assuming there is not a need for large open spaces and very little need for flexibility in the arrangement of walls, David Krantz of Krantz and Sheldon of Perth, has produced this verticality pile of windmill planned stacks of flats around a quadrant core called Windsor Towers in South Perth.

The exposure of assumptions is honest and likely backed by solid research: that column and cantilevering slab is more costly than load-bearing perimeters; that there is no need for major provisions of open space, surely a question of quality and not quantity as Jane Jacobs would suggest – perhaps qualitively there should be much more open space and closed space, a conclusion substantiated by even the most cursory of glances  by trained eyes; that like a house it is not necessary to change a flat in plan until the current occupants have died or moved on, when a new family would like to impose its collective personality and needs on the existing fabric. It is a little large to maintain that there is not much flexibility required or desired in the creeping multi-storey residential block form.'

Client: Bond Corporation. Engineers: G.A.R. Katieva & Partners. Builder: Multiplex Constructions Pty. Ltd.

Cross-Section, July 1970.