{"id":5329,"date":"2025-12-18T04:23:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T04:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atconsulting.com.au\/_staging\/project\/perth-zoo-cafe-and-function-centre-precinct-south-perth\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T06:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T06:07:08","slug":"perth-zoo-cafe-and-function-centre-precinct-south-perth","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/atconsulting.com.au\/_staging\/project\/perth-zoo-cafe-and-function-centre-precinct-south-perth\/","title":{"rendered":"Perth Zoo Cafe and Function Centre Precinct, South Perth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Completed : 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

Collaborators : Christou Design Group, Carruthers Contracting, Cays Engineering, Rigsafe Lifting Solutions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Awards :<\/strong><\/p>\n

2024 Australian Steel Institute (WA) Excellence Awards<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

High Commendation (Large Projects)<\/p>\n

As Stage 1 of a $55M Masterplan grant by the WA State Government to improve the popular Perth Zoo facilities, this new $12.9M entertainment precinct saw Airey Taylor Consulting provide Structural and Civil Engineering services to achieve the vision of frequent design collaborator, Christou Design Studio.<\/p>\n

The development comprises of two buildings – the Function Centre, located next to Labouchere Road\u00a0in South Perth, is a single storey building including approximately 1,300m\u00b2 of floor space with a series of external courtyards; and the new Cafe, located between exhibits on the main lawn\u00a0including approximately 440m\u00b2 floor area of a single-storey dining facility with panoramic external shaded dining and circulation deck.<\/p>\n

Structural response to the setting was the key aesthetic driver for the design team, with the buildings interfacing with the landscape and flora of the Perth Zoo to seamlessly introduce the new development into the overall experience for visitors.\u00a0Although both buildings maintain aesthetic continuity through their chosen materials, their characters are distinctly different. The Function Centre presents itself as a dynamic, public-facing structure oriented towards Labouchere Road, while the Caf\u00e9 is gently nestled within the landscape, serving as a discreet enhancement to the Zoo visitors’ experience.<\/p>\n

Steel was chosen as the predominant material to meet these challenges and optimise the structure, and features throughout both internal and external spaces.\u00a0 Additional to the primary structural function; steel was chosen for its aesthetic characteristics for louvres, cladding, fencing, unique patio roof detailing and columns; complementing the timber and concrete flooring and entry feature of cement stabilised limestone rammed earth walling. The ultimate result was celebrated in the 2024 Australian Steel Institute (WA) Awards with a High Commendation for Large Projects.<\/p>\n

The function centre offered some structural challenges with function rooms contained within a 20 metre by 16 metre floor plan with an operable wall dividing the areas. Likewise, the meeting rooms were separated by an operable wall. The roof construction was trusses supporting these operable walls, rafters and purlins.<\/p>\n

The complex geometry of the Architectural design required a structural solution minimising the challenge to the fabricator and erection teams. This was achieved by Airey Taylor Consulting\u2019s Structural plan that minimised the requirement for members curved in plan and maximised the normal linear elements. \u00a0The foundations were made easy to install through extensive use of Surefoot WA footings installed in a regular pattern. The use of these footings helped integrate the overall development into the unique parkland of the Zoo setting, it was agreed that Surefoot WA galvanised steel foundations be used to limit intrusions into the tree roots. The design called for circular hollow sections for the winding, curved and irregular canopy to avoid connection of inconsistent square faces of either S.H.S. or structural shapes.<\/p>\n

The main entry feature is cement stablised limestone rammed earth walls<\/a>; a technology pioneered in Australia by Airey Taylor Consulting in the mid-1970\u2019s and since adopted nationwide.<\/p>\n

Airey Taylor Consulting congratulates Christou\u00a0Design Studio on their beautiful and engaging design and we look forward to supporting them in their new endeavours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A beautiful example of Architectural response to setting and function, this two building expansion to Perth’s beloved Zoo delivers both much needed amenity and an attractive public function space using Airey Taylor’s structural skills and experience with rammed earth wall design. The project was celebrated with a High Commendation for Large Projects in the 2024 ASI (WA) Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5330,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"dt_portfolio_category":[105,106,107,108,109,94],"featured":[87,153],"class_list":["post-5329","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","dt_portfolio_category-civic","dt_portfolio_category-commercial","dt_portfolio_category-mixed-use","dt_portfolio_category-public-art","dt_portfolio_category-rammed-earth-systems","dt_portfolio_category-recreational","featured-featured","featured-highlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atconsulting.com.au\/_staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/5329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atconsulting.com.au\/_staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atconsulting.com.au\/_staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/atconsulting.com.au\/_staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/5329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6277,"href":"https:\/\/atconsulting.com.au\/_staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/5329\/revisions\/6277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atconsulting.com.au\/_staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atconsulting.com.au\/_staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"dt_portfolio_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atconsulting.com.au\/_staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dt_portfolio_category?post=5329"},{"taxonomy":"featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atconsulting.com.au\/_staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured?post=5329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}