Built on the land of the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation
Walyalup Civic Centre, designed by Kerry Hill Architects (KHA) and located within Walyalup Koort (formerly Kings Square) – a public square in the centre of Fremantle – is the latest iteration in a grand narrative of civic transformation across nearly 200 years. Replacing a modernist civic regeneration from the 1960s that damaged the urban fabric, the KHA design raises the question: Can modernism be used again, this time to heal the city and return urbanity?
The State Heritage-listed City of Fremantle was laid out in 1833 by John Septimus Roe, the Surveyor-General of Western Australia. The plan engages two axes, one centred on High Street, which runs down the centre of a promontory terminating at