FINE dining, a lap pool, landscaped ocean edge and a boardwalk are among ideas to “reimagine” the Indiana site at Cottesloe Beach.
The Minderoo Group, which is in the process of acquiring the restaurant, has released images of the four chosen designs by Australian architects who were guided by community ideas that included a beachside pool, arts and culture hub and a bigger variety of food and beverage offerings.
Minderoo, run by Andrew and Nicola Forrest, is working with Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club that has its boatshed at the base of Indiana, to ensure the club’s needs are facilitated.
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Cottesloe SLSC president Mike Franz said the club had called Cottesloe Beach home since 1909.
“There is potential for a reimagined Indiana to benefit the club, bring increased tourism opportunities to Cottesloe and provide a vibrant space for the community to come together,” Mr Franz said.
WA architect Geoffrey London, who chaired the jury that reviewed the concepts, said the four submissions creatively reflected the community response.
“The brief for this design process was deliberately left quite open to encourage creativity and the inclusion of public input,” Mr London said.
“As a result, we have great variety in these final four concepts, which exhibit a considered relationship with Cottesloe’s unique cultural heritage and reflect the ideas received from the community in different ways.
“The main goal the architects were set was to reimagine the space for optimum community benefit, ensuring the site is well utilised and activated.
Provide feedback on the four designs or refitting the existing building at www.minderoogroup.com.au/Indiana.
The chosen design or refit will go through an extensive planning approval process.
It could be up to two years before works starts on any new development at the Indiana site on Cottesloe Beach, according to WA architect Geoffrey London.
Mr London, who chaired the jury that chose four design finalists, said releasing concepts to the public was just the start of a long process.
“There will inevitably be negotiation with the local authority once the preferred design is selected by the jury,” he said.
“The jury will make that decision based on their judgement of design excellence, their considering of input from the community and the degree to which the concepts meet the brief.”
While the public has four architect-designed concepts to choose from, the Minderoo Group has not ruled out refitting the existing building.
However, Mr London said it was not an easy building to “rejig”.
“The existing building is dating from 1996 so it’s not that old but it’s complicated by the fact it’s built over the top of another building from 1983,” he said.
“There are certainly complications in retaining it.”
Mr London is urging the community to approach the designs with an “open mind”.
The architect said each competing architect had submitted a cost estimate with their submission but it wasn’t one of the key criteria in assessing the designs.
He could not release an approximate cost of a development.