Felicity Dowling, the lead architect for the DFES complex at Cockburn Central, which has been nominated in the WA Architecture Awards.
Camera IconFelicity Dowling, the lead architect for the DFES complex at Cockburn Central, which has been nominated in the WA Architecture Awards. Credit: Supplied/Louise White

Designs on big prize

Staff ReporterFremantle Gazette

The project, designed by architects from Woodhead and officially opened last October, was one of four buildings in Cockburn among the 117 nominations.

Other local projects nominated include the Port Coogee development, a new senior learning building at Atwell College and a residential complex at Cockburn Central.

The local entries will face stiff competition from high-profile projects including the Perth Arena, Brookfield Place and Forrest Place.

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Lead architect on the DFES project Felicity Dowling said it was exciting to have her team’s project entered in the awards.

Tasked with integrating the building into its surrounds and making it easy for employees to fulfil their roles, Ms Dowling said she was sure the building had ticked all the boxes.

‘The intention of the building was for it to become the new face of DFES to the community. It had a pivotal role to play for the new Cockburn town centre,’ she said.

‘We had to create a good working environment with contemporary standards of accommodation and we worked closely with the City of Cockburn and LandCorp to achieve that.

‘The building design was influenced by the town centre design guidelines, but it had to be accessible to employees.

‘We spent a lot of time looking at the operational sectors. The way people move around and interact is really important.’