Russell Hall

About Russell Hall

Russell Hall was born in 1947 and spent his formative years on a dairy farm at Harrisville in the Fassifern Valley. His first brush with local politics was handing out How-To-Vote cards on behalf of his father’s campaign for Shire Chairman.
He studied architecture at the University of Queensland and the Queensland Institute of Technology from 1965 to 1974 and for much of the early part of his career, worked in the offices of James Birrell in Brisbane and Port Moresby.

Russell’s experience in tropical design was cemented by a number of years with the Papua New Guinea Housing Commission, during which he conceived and produced designs for pre-fabricated standard houses which could be easily and cheaply erected by landowners.
Since his return from Papua New Guinea, Russell has practised architecture on the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, designing houses, townhouses and commercial premises.
His most well-known building is probably the Carpenter Hall House in Wilston, designed for his sister, which has featured not only in magazines and on television, but in most recent books on significant Australian architecture.
Also well-known—not to say notorious—is the Varitimos Building at the main intersection in West End. Its bright colours and exaggerated Ionic columns created much discussion in the streets and newspapers as the building progressed—a situation relished by the architect.
Russell Hall’s awards from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects include House of the Year (1988 Judge Residence, Camp Island), numerous citations for residential & commercial buildings, Innovation in Architecture Awards for lighting and furniture and the John Herbert Award for Heritage Conservation Works for the Rialto Theatre Redevelopment.
In addition to his architectural practice, Russell is the designer behind The Ripple Iron Curving Company which produces a range of light fixtures, furniture and shade structures. It’s also the home of the Ripple Iron Stubbie Cooler, which won the Memento Award for Most Innovative Product in 2001.
His passions are: architecture, Brisbane, cameras, sculpture and ballroom dancing—not necessarily in that order.

Russell Hall for Lord Mayor

Briefly, I am standing for Lord Mayor of Brisbane because of the current Council’s disregard for its citizens’ rights and interests. I believe Brisbane needs an independent Lord Mayor answerable to the people, not just another political party hack.

PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

Ideas must be promoted, debated and implemented for a successful sub-tropical city to evolve in this region.
They are not at present. I will promote such discussion.
The following are ideas which I believe warrant promotion

Granny Flat

Why an Independent Lord Mayor?

Once upon a time, Mayors were selected by the elected councilors from amongst themselves, in the same way that the Premier and Ministers are determined at the State level.
However, consistent with the idea of local government being non-political and answerable to the community as a whole, Mayors of all shires and cities, including the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, are now elected by popular vote of the people.
This was seen by the State, at the time the Local Government Act was amended, as a way of ensuring that all residents would have an equal say in the future of their local community, whether or not they vote for the ruling faction or political party. It was also seen as a means of de-politicising local government so that it did not operate in opposition to the State Government with all the political infighting that that would bring.

What I want for Brisbane

Brisbane is not the City it should be, and won’t be with the present regime!

I want Brisbane to be unique, not a pale imitation of Sydney, Melbourne or anywhere else in the world.

I want a city with an exuberant character that fills its citizens with pride.

I want it to respond to its place, topography and climate.

I want it to be courageous in discussion, debate and implementation of ideas.

I would rather it pursued heroic activities with the risk of failure than plod with mundane security.

I want a city where the individuals are and behave as citizens not customers.

The City I want embraces life in all its forms -- trees, birds, lizards, sunsets, winds, fires, floods and mountains.

I want a bureaucracy that helps rather than hinders.

I want the individual to have the right of expression of their dreams, imaginations and fantasies with a respectful concern for the common good.

I want the common good to be fair to the individual.

I see monumentality as an essential social justice issue -- public structures must uplift and inspire citizens as City Hall, St John's Cathedral and the Masonic Temple in Ann Street do. They should not be low-scale domestic structures.

I want a city with a soul that accepts the differences of life. Encourages and supports its citizens to achieve to the best of their abilities and uplifts and cares for those in need.

I want a city that promotes vibrant good health and artistic expression and is much, much more than coffee, clothes and a virtual world.

I want a city where neighbours help each other and are fair and reasonable.

This City is the mirror of its citizen and will reflect their aspirations, courage, art, achievement and humanity. I would like this to be glorious.

I would be most proud and honoured to lead citizens with these aims.

Consent Issues

In recent times the Brisbane City Council has evolved more and more conditions which require consent. In the past, the consent application was lodged and the basic factors which impacted upon the adjoining owners were assessed at this consent phase.
These matters dealt with generally related to setbacks, height of buildings, number of cars, landscaping issues etc. They did not involve aesthetic issues as to what colour materials would be used, whether it looked the same as the place next door and all the myriad considerations which now apply.

Down on Shit Street

Expression in Architecture

The exponential increase in townplanning regulations and policies are operating against freedom of expression within architecture.
These regulations have evolved in an environment which wishes to control and remove any overt expression that a citizen, architect or designer might wish to incorporate in the design of a building.
This approach rather than embrace what may be possible in the present futuristic design is exterminated by regulation design preference and intolerance in an effort to ensure conformity with what was done in the past.

Overlooking

It is my firmly held belief that “overlooking” should not be the business of any council or government for gaining Building Approval. The setback requirements in the City Plan are sufficient, and any screening should be at the instigation of various owners—some people may install devices to stop people looking into their windows, others may not. Some may put up curtains, some may have exterior screens. It should be a matter entirely for personal choice.
However, if the Brisbane City Council is determined to exercise its Big Brotherly power over citizen’s lives, I suggest the following as an effective compromise with useful side effects.

Sensible Environmental Design

Despite their lip service to The Environment the Council has built many policies into its City Plan which stop successful environmental design.
Excavation.
Council, with its restrictions on the height of building, ensures that every job is an extractive industry. Simply put, every person building any multiple dwelling is faced, if the land has some fall, with a substantial excavation followed by increased costs of retaining walls, tanking and all its associated problems. One has to wonder where all the fill goes. No doubt they are all looking for valleys and low areas—will Brisbane eventually be flat because of this excavation dumping?

Town Plan Bondage

The consumption of parks for roads and other infrastructure.

Our forbears did their best to incorporate a utopian view of what the City should be at Brisbane’s conception.
The best example of their far-reaching concepts would be Victoria Park. At the creation of Brisbane this park was viewed as being from Gregory Terrace down the hill to where swamps used to be and up to Herston Road.
There was nothing in this area except a large open park area.
Since the initial creation of the park it has been encroached upon in a most destructive fashion.
Gilchrist Avenue was cut through the valley from Lutwyche Road to Kelvin Grove Road.
Additionally a railway line was put through the park. Next a train washing facility was added to the park. After this, the Centenary Pool, a mobile phone repeater station, the Kelvin Grove Campus. In recent times we have the glorious Inner City Bypass cutting through the park.

Height and Its Townplanning Impact

Height, or a reasonable height for building, has become a townplanning negative.
Nearly all town plans try and prescribe the height of buildings to be to minimums. There is a phobia about heights being higher or much higher in room spaces than that allowed for by the Building Code of Australia, ie 2400mm in many cases, and 2700mm in others. Most plans seem to base what is allowed upon the achievement of these minimums.
In the Brisbane City Plan 8.5 metres is declared as the sacred height. This is taken as a height above the “natural fall of the land”. This is ridiculous when you take into account sloping ground and the consequences that has on building and design.

Neighbourly Spirit

Roads and Busways--the desecration of the City.

Roads and Busways--the desecration of the City.
There is a medical saying “operation successful, patient dead”. If one looks at the installation of bus ways it is a tragic circumstance for the City of Brisbane. The City of Brisbane is killed as they devise more means to have people come into it.
A good example is the re-development of the Myer Center and the buses exiting in front of the Treasury building. A disaster for which they are unable to find an answer.
The recently constructed northern busway is a real shocker. It makes the Transit Center start to look delightfully attractive when you compare the mess that is made at the intersection of Countess Street, Grey Street & Roma Street. The destructive nature of the road works defies belief.

Flood Issues

The River City?

Brisbane is a river city. So we are told, and so it is. A river that floods in extreme rain is unamazing—floods are one of a river’s functions.
Most of the world’s cities found water to be a compelling reason for their establishment at river locations. A river is an environment of abundance: usually fertile alluvial flood plains, luxuriant vegetation, plentiful animals, birds, insects et al and ever-changing beauty. They are a delight to live with and beside—the littoral zone of man as an amphibian.
It has been said “life is a wet phenomena”. Do the citizens of Brisbane want an obedient, predictable river, never able to express its devastating power? How dreary! Would the citizens prefer perpetual drought?

Mothership

City Cat versus Mothership

The City Cat runs the length of the river as a means of commuting and has replaced many of the old cross-river links.
The problem with the City Cat is that it travels at quite a substantial speed and then stops for its various boarding and departure points. The boat spends more time in a stopping, loading passenger mode than it does in actually travelling the river.
No matter what the top speed of the vehicle it takes approximately 2 hours for one City Cat to do a complete circuit. The trip speed is 9.5 knots (17.6 kilometres an hour or 11 miles per hour).
An alternative to the City Cat is needed to avoid the stop delays and provide greater passenger capacity and a more enjoyable river experience.
I suggest that an alternative would be a type of “mothership”, perhaps something similar to the former James Holt ferry now called The Island, or similar vessels with a large platform. The top of this platform could host a restaurant to have breakfast, places to read the paper, maybe two levels—top for the longer journey, with café, newsagent, and bottom level for shorter distance commuters.

Heritage Issues and the Brisbane City Council

With the loss of many magnificent buildings from the past, there has been a general reaction in all levels of government to emphasize heritage issues and the retention of many buildings. The Brisbane City Council has adopted policies and town planning strategies to retain a substantial amount of the pre-1946 building stock. Its Town Plan has incorporated by-laws to enable this to happen.

The Queenslander is Dead

THE QUEENSLANDER IS DEAD. Murdered by the Town Plan of 1987; the corpse exhumed and desecrated by the City Plan of 2001.

The Queenslander is not a house—but an extinct species that formerly roamed the hills of Brisbane and other parts of the state. He accepted the rights of his neighbour to construct a house to his means, as he wanted, with common good controls that would hardly have filled one foolscap page.

Solid Solutions

SOLID SOLUTIONS

Remember when it was a dull thud rather than a splash? A full tin buried in the paddock or thankfully removed in the early morning to be replaced with a freshly tarred can. Now it’s splash into potable water, hit the button, presto! and walk away as royalty.

Brisbane: a built environment in need of remedial care

It’s impossible to be something if you don’t know who, what, where and why you are. Brisbane’s built environment staggers from remedial measure, half-baked solution and sycophantic clapped-out idea to straight-out inappropriate designs.

What recent major piece of public architecture leaves you with the “proud to be a Queenslander” feeling? None spring to mind. There are many great efforts from the past. The Queensland house is often quoted as the best and only true original piece of Australian architecture but that’s the past.

The Rialto Theatre Redevelopment

A severe windstorm in 1995 collapsed the auditorium roof of the Rialto Cinema. This was the killing blow to the buildings continuation as a cinema/theatre.

The advent and Local Authority allowance of Multiplex Cinema’s, complex and conditional film procurement arrangements, the excessive reestablishment costs and the commercial unviability precluded the rebuilding of a stand alone cinema/theatre.

The original “Rialto” was heritage listed by the B.C.C. This listing required the retention of the memory of the Rialto and as such the awning, foyer and upper gallery were recycled as part of the redevelopment. The rest of the building was demolished and half the land sold to the Housing Commission. The ground floor foyer redeveloped as rental space has been extended to the west. Excavations below the ground floor slab created an area for parking cars. The upper gallery has been converted into offices.