NJA Book 2024 Soft Copy - Flipbook - Page 118
Prime Minister's Lodge
Nordon Jago Architects worked on the
competition job Priminister's Lodge in
Canberra. We believe that the Prime Minister’s
lodge should engage with the landscape in
a way that respects the principles on which
Canberra was originally planned. It should
represent the traditional values of Australian
society; informality, candour and lack of
pretension.
We were also conscious that the lodge is
simultaneously a public and private place,
and that it should provide retreat and respite
for the prime minister, while still presenting a
suitable venue for the administration of the
PMs office, and for the formal and informal
entertainment of dignitaries.
The building is planned over three floors.
All the public functions of the building are
arranged at ground level, and relate to the
main access road and to the lake. The cross
fall of the site has been utilised to house the
main private living quarters on a second level
and has direct access to outdoor recreational
spaces. The third floor houses the PM’s
private quarters and is intended to provide a
place of seclusion. A separate entrance has
been planned to the PM’s private quarters
and picks up the guest accommodation.
The opportunity has presented itself to utilise
the lake frontage, and the function centre has
been designed as a pontoon accessed via a
wharf which serves to house the art collection.
Again, the strategy is to have proximity while
still maintaining privacy.
