Assertive and respectful, measured but rich – these are ways we can see Kerstin Thompson’s work with existing buildings. All of these projects, going back to the mid-1990s, have been guided by a dogged pursuit of what a site and building can do. While Thompson’s new building work responds directly to either an urban or a broader landscape, the heritage and re-use work develops a more immediate conversation with what was already there. This relationship between new and old can be seen as a companionship.
To triangulate Thompson’s approach to existing buildings and heritage, we can consider three significant projects undertaken by the office in recent years: the Melbourne Holocaust Museum (2022), the Wertheim Factory conversion (2013) and Broadmeadows Town Hall (2019). Spanning public, institutional and commercial typologies, these projects all work in differing ways with existing buildings. Only one of these projects had an effective heritage listing – the former Wertheim piano factory in Richmond, Melbourne.
The approach of layered history is evident at the piano factory, which has now had four distinct uses. Following the original function, it became a biscuit factory before it was, most famously, converted for use by the Channel 9 television studios. Now occupied by dwellings and a cafe, the original 1912
