PHIL FITZPATRICK
WHEN I first saw the Sydney Opera House in early 1974 I thought: what a hideous building!
To my mind it looked completely out of character with beautiful Sydney Harbour; it was lumpy and looked unfinished. Another horrible example of 1960s post-modern architecture.
I haven’t changed my mind. Maybe if they painted it another colour, blue or brown maybe?
Of course, Sydney is not the only place in the world to build hideous monstrosities completely out of whack with its surroundings. And they are still at it thanks to casino mogul James Packer.
Elsewhere, I’m not sure whether anyone has noticed but beautiful Fairfax Harbour, where Port Moresby sits, is slowly being filled up and lined with big RH Vision City-style concrete boxes.
Mosbi has never been a pretty town but the harbour is its saving grace.
Now that the town has turned into a burgeoning city the opportunity should be there to complement the harbour with sympathetic structures.
There are some nice buildings in Mosbi and its environs but there are an increasing number of shockers too.
One of the most pleasant-looking structures is the Haus Tambaran, otherwise known as Parliament House, out at Waigani. The only thing that it possibly needs is something to cover up that bare lintel over the door – some nice Sepik carvings maybe?
Oh, and they need to get rid of the fetid smell coming from its interior – very nasty that one.
St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral is a nice building too and so was the old Burns Philp building before it was burnt down. Not sure about the new version.
These buildings fit in nicely with the Local Development Plan (LDP), to wit:
The main aim for the future, and objective of the Local Development Plan, is to address the many and varied problems of the urban environment that impact on the quality of life. At the core of this is social, environmental and economic well-being. Sustainable development, to maximise and maintain [the] quality of human urban life, is the focus of the Plan. While, from the current perspective, this may seem optimistic and difficult to achieve, the vision for Port Moresby Town must also be to fulfil potential in terms of:
- Enjoying the best of a tropical lifestyle;
- Showcasing the magnificent hilly, seaside setting;
- Promoting landscaping with shade, colour and tropical lushness, which can be visually magnificent, and pleasure to enjoy;
- Encouraging building design that is responsive to the environment, promoting tropical architecture which contributes to urban character, human comfort and energy-efficiency; and
- Supporting the public participation in cultural programs and practices, to encourage a wide base of community support.
In short, the vision is to create a unique jewel of the western Pacific region, with a distinctive physical presence and character, and a standard of living to match.
The monsters, like the new Papua Hotel, and the concrete bricolage scattered over the reclaimed land between Paga Hill and the Yacht Club just don’t seem to reflect the spirit of the LDP.
As Sean Dorney has noted, Mosbi has always been a ramshackle affair. Colonial architecture consisted mostly of World War II Nissen huts and temporary fibro-cement things thrown up in haste, typical Australian fencing wire architecture.
When you compare that to the beautiful old colonial buildings in Fiji or New Caledonia it looks pretty awful.
It’s not too late though. The LDP supports getting the tatty old government buildings out of the city centre as a good move and the new Paga Hill development doesn’t look too bad.
That Chinese stuff creeping up Touaguba Hill, perched as they are on precipitous slopes, isn’t exactly aesthetic but I imagine they will all fall down in a few years anyway; just pity the people underneath.
On the other side, Ela Beach could do with a makeover. Colonial style buildings along there would look great I think. So far the major architectural feature seems to be the roundabout at Koki. The Ela Beach Hotel is nice, especially the Beachside Brasserie.
Some people regard poor old Mosbi with disdain, a bit like the barbarians regarded ancient Rome; the quicker we get in there and burn it down the better.
But it is the gateway to Papua New Guinea after all and for that reason alone sprucing it up with a measure of good taste might be a good idea.