Council House Two

Council House Two (CH2) is situated on 240 Little Collins Street near the intersection of Swanston Street.

CH2 was officially opened in August 2006 as is Australia's first new 6 star greenstar rated commercial office building.

It is a 10-storey office building housing approximately 540 City of Melbourne staff, and a gross floor area of 12,536m² and cost $51.045 million to build.

The architect, Mick Pearce, gave a lecture during the intensive program. He described his architecture is greatly inspired by natural structures and bio-mimicry and light energy.

By observing structures in nature he has been able to replicate techniques that provide natural sources of heating and cooling for buildings as alternatives to high energy consumption alternatives, such as air-conditioning.


For example, located on the south façade shower towers, jokingly known as "condoms", made of five tubes of durable lightweight fabric, inside which a water shower induces air movement and cooling. The ensuing evaporative cooling process cools both air and water.




The building is actively conscious of its surrounding environments and includes other features that use the surrounding environment such as plants, wooden slats that move with the sun and so on.

The building itself and the architectural and environmental philosophy behind it are incredibly interesting but what makes it particularly relevant to an examination of public art is how the building was developed.



The building is an excellent example of using artists as part of the planning and development process for the building right from the very outset rather than using them to develop decorative elements when the building is complete.

In case of CH2 artists were included in the first brainstorming session with the architect and the engineer. The artists input was particularly valued for their ability to think outside of box creatively and beyond the "solution driven" processes of the architects and engineers.





Reference: City of Melbourne website